Manufacturing Happiness

Already three months active and remaining open until the end of October, the 2010 Shanghai World Expo has attracted as many as 500,000-plus visitors (or as low as 80,000-plus) per day with pavilions representing 195 countries, all working under the theme of “‘Better City, Better Life,’ representing the common wish of the whole humankind for a better living in future urban environments.” One pavilion — check Flickr for images of others — that has taken this theme to extreme heights is Latvia, who is treating visitors to its Technology of happiness, a three-story structure wrapped in 100,000 colorful, transparent, 15 ×15-centimeter plastic plates that houses a vertical tunnel that shoots people up in the air with, you bet, happiness. The Latvia pavil