Head Exhibition Designer for the Norwegian Pavilion at the 2012 World Expo in Yeosu, South Korea

In line with the official 2012 World Expo theme "The Living Ocean and Coast”, our task was to give an experience of Norway's industry and commerce in the context of maritime and coastal sustainability.

The challenge: The main expo campus was built like a semi-covered mall of several large corrugated steel structures and there were strict requirements of leaving the exterior untouched: How to distinguish our pavilion from the outside with mandated uniform exteriors throughout?

What we did: As experience designers, our team's starting point was how to engage people directly - so we turned the pavilion into a live venue. We created a carefully timed and choreographed show lasting 8 minutes. This was given the form of a multimedia journey to Norway, along its winding, labyrinthine coastline, 25 148 km long, in 4 spaces hosted by young, local actors and actresses auditioned to tell our story.

Our pavilion consisted of film, soundscapes and exhibitions, hosted by live actors in Korean operating the show from iPads. 

My key responsibilities were Head exhibition designer for the physical objects  display, set design, posters and signage design, copywriting, pavilion interior architecture, furniture and lounge design.

Norway's pavillion had 300.000 unique visitors over a 4-month period, well over our baseline estimate.

The final stage of the journey, the destination, was a physical exhibition from Norway.

The design featured objects from Norway’s key industries, sliced through and presented on large, tilted plexiglass panels

One defining premise for national pavilion exhibits like the World Expo is to share unique perspectives based on each country's society, culture and geography. I used the concept of “Cross Section” to turn that iconic scientific device into a physical, literal dissecting of story-linked, real objects from Norway. The objects were organized into four panels, representing four themes of the pavilion: Offshore, Shipping, Fishing, and the more playful Life. The main logo, along with wall graphics and signage, incorporated the diagonal line from the cross-secting gesture of the physical exhibition.