A Study Of Experimental Architecture In World's Fairs

Over the past 150 years, world's fairs have made an important contribution tothe economic development, city planning and history of architecture and design. Theprestige associated with such exhibitions combined with their temporary nature hasoften resulted in innovative buildings. Tangible evidence of these structures, in mostcases, disappeared. Certain constructions have been preserved, such as Eiffel Tower(Paris 1889). A few constructions have been reconstructed in other places, such asLudwig Mies van der Rohe's German Pavilion (Barcelona 1929).But many hundredsof pavilions have failed to withstand the test of time. Those either preserved asheritage or in historical books are representatives and pioneers of their eras.20^th century is the experimental era for architecture. Various architectural stylesare suffering from approaching the culmination and falling into the valley. There isno certain answer by far for what the connotation of architecture is and what thepotential is. Experiments for architecture in terms of materials, constructions andthoughts never cease.The thesis contributes to the exhibition buildings in the world's fairs in terms ofexperimental architecture. The topic was chosen to study how those experimentalbuildings come into being and what is the enlightenment to us.The thesis is divided into three parts to study the experimental characters of theexhibition buildings: structures and technologies, materials and architecture theories.