Germany brings out its pavilion design for World Expo Shanghai 2010 on May 22.
The 6,000-sq-m Germany Pavilion, named “Balancity”, will show typical city life in Germany and introduce how the country’s products help solve urbanization problems.
Dietmar Schmitz, commissioner general of the German Section in the Expo, said the German government invested 30 million euros ($47.34 million) in the pavilion. Some German companies will also invest.
Schmitz said they are expecting about 50,000 visitors daily during the Expo, which means over 9 million people may visit our pavilion.
Lennart Wiechell,the architect of the pavilion, said the pavilion is made of three floating spaces and one cone-shaped structure. And it will offer a feeling of “light and elegance”.
The cone-shaped hall has a capacity of 750 visitors. Some other exhibition halls will show a harbor view rebuilt from the city of Hamburg. Schmitz said construction will begin in a few months and will be finished in April 2010.
China Pavilion
Construction for the China Pavilion at 2010 World Expo started on December 18, 2007, just half a year ahead.
The China Pavilion is a sophisticated structure that has many traditional Chinese elements, including calligraphy, architecture, gardening and urban planning.
Standing in the central location of the Expo site at 63 m tall, triple the height of any other pavilion, the structure surely will become a fine exhibit for Shanghai to present to the world before the Expo opens.
“The Crown of the East”, the main structure of the China Pavilion, has an outstanding roof, which was made of traditional dougong or brackets, which has a history more than 2,000 years.
The dougong style features wooden brackets fixed layer upon layer between the top of a column and a crossbeam. This unique structural component of interlocking wooden brackets is one of the most important elements in traditional Chinese architecture.
In the spring and Autumn Period (770-467 BC), dougong was widely used. After the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the bracket sets got more ornamental than structural while used in palatial structures and important religious buildings.
Craftsmen in ancient times cut the wooden pieces to fit together so perfectly that no glue or fasteners were necessary. Today, visitors can still see these distinct brackets in the Forbidden City and Summer Palace.
Actually, the six-layer, 30-m-high dougong roof is the exhibition area of the Chinese national pavilion. The 56 brackets used in the roof represent the 56 ethnic groups in China.
The top pf the roof features a Sudoku grid, which was a traditional urban planning feature in ancient Chinese cities like Xi’an in Shaanxi province and Beijing.
There will be a smaller Sudoku shadow in the half-open square on the ground floor of the structure, when the sun shines into the pavilion.
Below the main structure, there will be a 45,000-sq-m joint pavilion featuring the displays from local provinces, cities and regions.
A special kind of zhuan, or seal style of Chinese calligraphy, is to be used to write the names of local participants on the outside wall of the pavilion.
The Jiangsu province style of garden landscaping has been selected for the pavilion.
This kind of style is usually seen in Yangzhou or Suzhou, which are both in Jiangsu province.
The Jiangnan (region south of the Yangtze River) gardens is a typical kind with delicate arrangements, pavilions and tranquil ponds, which will give visitors a relaxing sanctuary from the urban environment outside.
Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination Deputy Director, Huang Jianzhi, said the pavilion is remindful of China at first sight, “striking and memorable.”
New landmark
The organizers said, the new pavilion will be a new landmark for Shanghai and a legacy for the rest of China.
A national pavilion, a joint pavilion for provinces and cities, and separate pavilions for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan make up of the China Pavilion.
With the themes of the popularization of wireless broadband and the reduction of urban waste and recycling, Taipei will set up two pavilions. Mayor of Taipei Hau Lung-bin said, “Taipei’s participation in the Expo will set a good example for future communications across the Taiwan Straits and will be mutually beneficial.”
“Lantera do Coelhinha” will be the blueprints of Macao Pavilion at the Expo. It uses a legendary Chinese fairy tale and uses the “Oriental Crown” as a metaphor for the “South Gate” which separates the worlds of mortals and immortals in the fairy tale. “Lantera do Coelhinha” is the celestial rabbit greeting guests in front of the “South Gate”.
A 600-sq-m space is for provinces and cities in the joint pavilion. Construction has started on all the permanent structures, including the China Pavilion. After the Expo in 2010, the pavilion will be changed into a museum for Chinese history and culture.
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