French pavilion - pavillon de la France - Expo 2012 Yeosu

Until today, it was very difficult to have some news about the french pavilion... fortunately, my private spy was there yesterday in Yeosu Expo site... it's the first photo of this pavilion !

Enter the french pavilion... 3d visualization

During the Expo Press Day... how will be the french pavilion... inside :

French Yeosu pavilion stresses ocean’s future

The French Embassy unveiled its plans for the French pavilion at the Yeosu World Expo next year.

As its theme, the French government has chosen “France, its Coasts, its Oceans” and also unveiled their mascot for the expo named Sogeumi.

“Korea and France are both countries with a high respect for the ocean,” said French Ambassador Elisabeth Laurin during a press conference.

“In France we have over 1,900 kilometers of coastal waters, so there is a lot of affinity between the two countries and their people in subjects like the environment, high technology. That’s what we will find at our pavilion,” she added.

French Ambassador Elisabeth Laurin (third from left) is accompanied by (from left to right) President of COFRES Jose Freches who is in charge of the French pavilion,architect of the pavilion David-Pierre Jalicon, Laurin, the mascot Sogeumi, and Yeosu 2012 organizing committee director Kwon Young-dae. (Yoav Cerralbo/The Korea Herald)


Organizers of the world expo are predicting that 3 million visitors will attend, of which about half a million will be from abroad.

The French Embassy is hoping to attract 1 million visitors to its pavilion with the goal of presenting the country as a maritime superpower.

Visitors to the French pavilion will learn about the different beautiful spots found along the country’s coast.

The pavilion will also showcase French desalination technology. The French contingency will demonstrate the different processes seawater goes through before being transformed into drinkable water by using an animated version of their mascot Sogeumi.

The front side of the pavilion is made up of 300 hourglasses filled with moving salt to illustrate the time remaining before the world’s supply of drinking water is exhausted.

Once inside, visitors will follow Sogeumi on his journey.

In another room, visitors will see a small scale replica of the Sea Orbiter, a floating research laboratory intended to observe ocean life.

There will also be humanoid and aquatic robots peppered throughout the 845 square meter pavilion.

The expo will run from May 12 to Aug. 12 at the Yeosu New Port and Deokchung-dong, South Jeolla Province.

(yoav@heraldm.com)

2012 Yeosu Expo: France lays the foundation for its "fun" pavilion

SEOUL, April 8 (Yonhap) - A year after the opening of the 2012 International Exposition Yeosu, participants detailed their preparations at a meeting on 5 and 7 April, with the organizing committee. France has thus presented the theme of the flag which it hopes will attract 1 million visitors expected on 8 million, according to José Frèches, the Commissioner General of the flag of France for the exhibition, which made the trip to the occasion. The International Exposition Yeosu will be held from May 12 to August 12, 2012 on "For The Living Ocean and Coast: Diversity of Resources and Sustainable Activities." In agreement with this subject, France has chosen to focus on desalination of sea water in the hexagonal pavilion, that is "magical, luxurious and refined", visitors will be invited to discover the process of desalination following the adventures of the mascot Sogeumi (salt in Korean), a salt crystal. Through "The Wonderful Adventures of Sogeumi, crystal salt", viewers will discover the coast and the specificities of the French landscape. José Frèches said during an interview with Yonhap yesterday afternoon, the goal was to present France as a "land of technology," but also to show "the diversity and beauty of the French coast, because the France is not only metropolitan France, but there is also the France overseas, that's things that Koreans do not know. " The COFRES (French Company for the World Expo in Shanghai and Yeosu) setting a maximum budget of € 7 million and the support of French companies established in the country to renew the success of the Shanghai World Expo 2010. The flag was then France's most visited, drawing 10 million visitors. Participants will present plans for installation of the exhibition on October 12 and the exhibition space will be made available on November 1. Development work will be completed in April 2012 for an opening to the public the following month. At the end of the exhibition, the various facilities will be dismantled. As many as 92 countries and six international organizations have already expressed their intention to participate in the International Exposition in Yeosu, the second international exhibition held in South Korea after that of Daejeon in 1993.