Solar Soybean Walls Stand Front & Center At Expo 2010

Shanghai, China's upcoming Expo 2010, taking place from May 1–October 31, 2010, is a grand scale international fair and exposition.

With the theme "Better City – Better Life," Shanghai is launching itself as a major economic hub and cultural center of the 21st century.

Fairs of this magnitude traditionally attract global participation and the creme de la creme of design concepts.

Expo 2010 will be no different considering Switzerland's national pavilion model, made with soybean-fiber and rooftop cable cars.

Out of 104 global candidates, Buchner Bründler Architects' winning design emulates the concept of Yin and Yang with an exterior curtain composed out of degradable soybeans and dye-sensitized solar cells able to generate electricity.

With a forest like appearance, the curtain's ode to Mother Nature will swing full circle given that it will be able to decompose in soil within two weeks.