Nordic Lighthouse

Nordic Lighthouse model, picture borrowed from china-briefing.com

Not everything is happening within the Expo park in Shanghai. Some countries have chosen different approaches to the 6 months tourist/exhibition frenzy, one of them being Denmark.

Sure, Denmark made a pavilion, and flew over the world’s most famous little mermaid sculpture and put here in their pavilion pond, having thousands of people lining up to photograph her every single Expo day. But they also built a lighthouse outside the Expo area, in Shanghai’s Yangpu district. The lighthouse goes under the name “Nordic Lighthouse” and you don’t need any Expo ticket to enter it. Not a bad idea if you ask me.

The building is in fact a newly renovated warehouse. Although it’s been given a good makeover, the building still has a rough edge to itself, which works nicely with simple, Danish interior. It consists of three large floors. The first floor features exhibitions, and the second and third floors are designated for business meetings, conferences and exhibitions. They have quite good catering possibilities over there, with renowned Shanghai restaurant Laris being in charge of the food business.

I went to visit the lighthouse myself the other day, and I really enjoy the setup. It’s located next to the harbour in Yangpu, just on Huangpu river. So if you sit on the terrace on the third floor, you get a pretty nice river view.

Currently, there’s a Nordic landscape exhibition running, probably most interesting for those ones that are into city planning, landscape architecture and design. All Nordic countries (including Iceland and even Greenland!) are represented with a project of their own.

Later this month, I’ll get yet another dose of the lighthouse, as one of the projects I’m currently working on includes hosting a reception at the lighthouse. Oh, and did I tell you I’m going to be the moderator –welcoming guests in Chinese? Yeah, we thought it would make the event a bit more interesting (or well, someone came up with this idea –and no, I wasn’t me!) so they decided that a Chinese guy should speak English, and that I should speak Chinese. Since I gave a speech during Shanghai Fashion Week’s press conference in April, I’m not that nervous about this, but sure, it’s still a bit scary. But also fun!

If you’re keen on checking out the lighthouse or the Nordic landscape exhibition, you find the address here