Topping-out ceremony in Shanghai

1 May to 31 October 2010 www.expo2010-germany.com EXPO 2010 Shanghai China: balancity, the German Pavilion Issue 2 / 2009 Editorial Content News & Events Three presentations – one topic: the German Pavilion . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Interview Three questions for Harald Dosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The evolution of balancity Steel structure completed . . . . . . 3 Partnerships & sponsors German Design Council. . . . . . . . . 4 EXPO Online: Germany to take part in virtual EXPO . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Culture in the German Pavilion "Hip Hop Stützpunkt Berlin" goes EXPO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" They do in China! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 News from the German Consulate General in Shanghai Roundtable talk: Germany at the world exhibition . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 News from EXPO 2010 Tickets on sale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Background report Germany – a country aiming for sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Topping-out ceremony in Shanghai Dear friends and partners of the German Pavilion, With the summer holidays drawing ever nearer, the world exhibition is fast approaching too. Work on the German Pavilion is well on schedule and the topping-out ceremony will be held in July. So it’s only natural that there’s a great deal of public interest in how construction is progressing. The media are curious too and numerous television crews, from Germany’s ZDF “heute” to Discovery Channel UK to Deutsche Welle, have visited the German plot over the past few weeks. That’s also why our latest news film at www.expo2010-germany.com shows how Chinese and Germans are working together on the construction site and gradually assembling the steel frame of the pavilion building. In our last newsletter, we reported on the recruitment drive for the German Pavilion. By the deadline of 30 April 2009, the Koelnmesse International EXPO team had received more than 3,500 online applications. The first interviews have already been held but the evaluation process will take at least until the end of August 2009. So we’d like to ask everyone who applied to wait a little longer. The exhibition designers are also working around the clock. One of their tasks is to select exhibits on the topic of sustainability – an area in which Germany plays a pioneering role that we want to do justice. How? Read our background report to find out. Happy reading! Yours, Dietmar Schmitz Commissioner General of the German Pavilion Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology Marion Conrady Press Officer for the German Pavilion Koelnmesse International GmbH International page 1 1 May to 31 October 2010 News & events Three presentations – one topic: the German Pavilion at EXPO 2010 The “Creativity Summit”, Cologne KAP Forum and “Germany and China – Moving ahead together” Shenyang: Federal Minister of Education and Research, Prof. Dr Annette Schavan, admires the pavilion model. Photo: Stephan Sasse, Germany Trade & Invest Berlin: Peter Redlin from Milla und Partner presents the balancity design at the Art Directors Club Deutschland congress. Photo: Koelnmesse International The Art Directors Club Deutschland (ADC) sees itself as a source of motivation and inspiration, a pacesetter and icebreaker. So “The Creative Revolution” was the theme it chose for the “ADC Creativity Summit 2009”. From 24 to 25 April 2009, Germany’s creative minds gathered at the ADC congress in Berlin, the city of creativity, to endeavour to find innovative solutions for the pressing problems facing industry and society. Among them were Peter Redlin, Milla und Partner’s Creative Director, who is responsible for designing the German Pavilion exhibition, and Lennart Wiechell, Project Manager for the Pavilion’s architecture at Schmidhuber + Kaindl. In their presentation, they shared their ideas for the world exhibition in Shanghai with the audience. The Cologne KAP Forum is dedicated to the fields of architecture and design. So Andreas Grosz, who runs the Forum and was himself Managing Director of EXPO 2000 in Hanover from 1994 to 2000, thought it only logical to invite the German Pavilion project partners from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, Koelnmesse International, the Milla und Partner agency and the Schmidhuber + Kaindl firm of architects to present their project at the KAP Forum. Over 100 people came to find out more at the event, which was held at the end they interact that a stable balance is created. “I’m bowled over by how they’ve translated the balancity idea into architectural form”, said Professor Erwin H. Zander, architect, founding Chairman of Cologne’s “Haus der Architektur” and a member of the German Architects Association (BDA). Dr Thomas Schriefers, architect and lec- „I’m bowled over by how they’ve translated the balancity idea into architectural form.“ (Prof. Dr Erwin H. Zander, architect, member of the German Architects Association (BDA) and founding Chairman of Cologne’s “Haus der Architektur”) turer, a recognised authority on EXPOs and an expert on temporary buildings, was also very taken by the German Pavilion. “The German Pavilion for EXPO 2010 is extremely impressive! I find the sculpture-like design that the team of architects has created for the balancity theme fascinating. It’s a temporary building based on a good tradition. I mean, for example, Mies van der Rohe’s pavilion, the German national pavilions in Barcelona in 1929, Brussels in 1958 and Osaka in 1970, which were contemporary statements that linked their exterior appearance with what was happening in their interiors. In Barcelona there was the provocatively empty space, ambiguously enclosed, in Brussels the welcoming open “display case” and in Osaka the hermetically sealed music laboratory. The underlying principle was always to promote contact, not just concentrate on size”, said Schrie- of April 2009 in the former Agrippa shipyard on the South Quay – itself a successful urban redevelopment project in Cologne’s Rheinauhafen port. For the first time since the pavilion design was originally presented to the public, the audience also saw and heard how the architecture had evolved, from the initial draft to construction. The response was extremely positive. The pavilion’s four large exhibition structures symbolise the interplay between the forces involved when loads are carried and applied, leant and supported. Seen in isolation, each exhibition structure is out of balance. It’s only when page 2 www.expo2010-germany.com The evolution of balancity fers. And that’s precisely what the latest pavilion does too, combining virtual and analog worlds. “Brought together by an interdisciplinary team, which has created an ideal stage on which to present our complex world. I’m really looking forward to seeing the finished building”, he added. EXPO “Better City, Better Life” theme. A 1:200 scale model, accompanied by a film showing balancity’s urban exhibition spaces, gave visitors a good idea of what the building, with its four large, polygonal structures, will look like. After Shenyang, the model and the film, along Like EXPO 2010, the “Germany and China – Moving ahead together” programme of events is dedicated to sustainable urbanisation. On the fourth stop on its tour, in Shenyang, there was also a pavilion presenting Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. The aim is to provide an insight into city life in the future. So it made sense to showcase the German EXPO Pavilion – after all, balancity will seek to offer answers to the questions raised by the with several banners, will move to Shanghai (to be exhibited in, for example, the German Centre, the German School and Tongji University) and then Beijing (for instance, at the German Embassy and the Goethe Institute). Steel structure completed Topping-out ceremony on 8 July 2009 Things are progressing at a pace and balancity’s steel structure is practically finished. Even though the building won’t have a roof truss in the conventional sense, the completion of this important construction phase is more than enough reason for a topping-out ceremony. So For a detailed programme visit: www.expo2010-germany.com. Interview Commissioner General Dietmar Schmitz, from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, has arranged for a ceremony to take place on the building site on 8 July 2009 to bring the German version of this tradition, with its topping-out wreath, speech and tinkling of glasses, to Shanghai. Our news film shows what the site looks Germany, Japan and Spain. What makes the project in Shanghai special? >> Harald Dosch: The language barrier, without question. Our European workers obviously mostly deal with Chinese companies and language is quite clearly a challenge. That’s why we devised a special teamwork method: we team each European worker up with a Chinese partner. In these “twinnings”, they can work well together and complement each other. like at the moment and how the construction firm, NUSSLI (Germany), is coordinating the building work in Shanghai. Three questions for ... ... Harald Dosch, Technical Director, responsible for project management, construction and site supervision at NUSSLI (Germany), Consortium German Pavilion Shanghai Harald Dosch (at the right) with Siegfried Kaindl (Schmidhuber + Kaindl) in April 2008 Foto: Koelnmesse International The steel structure for the German Pavilion is almost finished. Are you happy with how the project has gone so far? >> Harald Dosch: We can be very happy. Whilst other countries are still digging in the ground, we’ve already made a lot of progress with the steel structure. So far, we’ve been fortunate enough not to have any major problems. Our cooperation with our local partners has been going really well especially since they are very willing to be part of the team. We’re also seeing that the Chinese are very ambitious. NUSSLI already has experience in pavilionbuilding as it was involved in the projects in China is expecting this to be the biggest ever world exhibition. Will the German Pavilion equip Germany properly for this, the ultimate EXPO? >> Harald Dosch: Definitely. One advantage is that the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology started the tender procedure so early and requested applicants to submit an exhibition idea, architectural design and construction plans. That meant that we in the Consortium German Pavilion Shanghai, which we had formed with our partners from Schmidhuber + Kaindl and Milla und Partner, were able to start work in plenty of time. Film: www.expo2010-germany.com Photo: Pascal Berger, Playze Of course, every nation will try to come up with something – we all want to do our best. And it’s also interesting, of course, to see what the others will do. But I think the idea for the German Pavilion is very good and well-rounded. page 3 1 May to 31 October 2010 Partnerships & sponsors The Depot will showcase German-made products that are practical and pleasing to the eye, such as Stihl hedge clippers, an Otto Bock artificial leg and a Kokua Bikes LikeaBike wooden trainer bike for toddlers. Image: Milla + Partner / Schmidhuber + Kaindl Deputy Director of the German Pavilion, Joel Willers, hands over Germany’s EXPO Online participation document to XU Wei from the EXPO Events Department. Photo: EXPO Bureau German Design Council assisting in selection of exhibits The Depot: a room full of ideas The Depot is a big, dark, shimmering red space. Its shelf-like structures are filled right up to the ceiling with inventions and design products, ordinary and out-of-the-ordinary things from Germany. These items also contribute to the www.german-design-council.de aesthetic enhancement of life in the city. More than 90 exhibits, from the LED lamp to a special alarm-clock radio, a helmet for racing cyclists, a rechargeable screwdriver, a toy tractor to the well-known LikeaBike will be on show here. Stuttgart-based agency Milla und Partner is choosing the exhibits, with help and advice from the German Design Council. The German Design Council (Rat für Formgedesign disciplines. Today, the donors of the German Design Council include more than 150 of Germany’s most important companies. EXPO Online: Germany to take part in virtual world exhibition Welcome to the Web 2.0 era! For the first time, people will also be able to visit a virtual, 3-D, animated version of the world exhibition on the world wide web. On “EXPO Online”, a platform created by the EXPO organisers, it will be possible to present pavilions so that visitors can wander through them virtually. Germany will also be taking part in the project: 2010, when the EXPO doors open on 1 May, web users will be able to click their way through balancity’s urban spaces and see a variety of exhibits dealing with the “Better City, Better Life” theme. Culture in the German Pavilion bung) was founded as an initiative of the German Bundestag in 1953 to meet the growing need of the business world for information about design. Today, it is one of the world’s leading centres of excellence for communication and knowledge transfer in the design field. With competitions, exhibitions, conferences, consulting, research and publications, it offers new perspectives for representatives of business and “Hip Hop Stützpunkt Berlin” goes EXPO Youth culture programme tools for the German Pavilion stage Hip hop culture is considered to be the most successful youth culture of our times and it functions despite linguistic barriers and national borders. It’s all about creativity, bringing people together and communicating. page 4 www.expo2010-germany.com "Sprechen Sie Deutsch?“ They do in China! Language courses in the Pavilion Hip Hop Stützpunkt Berlin goes Shanghai! Formerly a transformer stations, now home to a network for urban youth culture. Images: Hip Hop Stützpunkt Berlin The cultural energy that enables something to be created from nothing reached its climax at the end of the 1970s in New York's Bronx. Breaking (better known as break-dance), using a piece of cardboard as a dance floor, graffiti as urban "text”, and open air jams, in which electricity was tapped from street lamps, were all born there and spread across the world – including Germany. Hip hop is now well-established in Germany and German hip hop has become an export “hit”. The World Break Dance Battle of the Year, the largest aerosol and graffiti art event and the Beatbox Battle World Championship (with preliminary rounds held all over the world) draw over 20,000 young people to the finals in Germany every year. The German Pavilion will be showcasing this important urban youth culture at the world exhibition in Shanghai with break-dance contests and performances. The details of the programme are currently being developed by Hip Hop Stützpunkt Berlin in collaboration with the German Pavilion team at Koelnmesse International. Another highlight planned in cooperation with the Chinese organisers is the “CAMPUS of urban (youth) cultures” to be built on the EXPO site. The idea behind this area is to give young artists the opportunity to present their needs and visions for harmonious urban life in an exhibition. Beatbox is the fifth element of hip hop culture and has been experiencing a boom recently – partly thanks to the Beatboxbattle network, which is based in Berlin. Beatbox, the art of “vocal percussion”, requires no drum machines, instruments or samples. The rhythms and tunes are produced using only the mouth and microphone – as audiences will be able to hear for themselves live on the stage of the German Pavilion during EXPO 2010 Shanghai China. A team of four experienced teachers will show participants that learning the German language can be a lot of fun. The modern, entertaining language tuition, using only rhythm, music, movement, pictures and gestures, will be based on the taster-course model offered by the Goethe Institute in Beijing. This model has already proved successful in, for example, the “Germany and China – Moving ahead together” programme of events. www.goethe-slz.sh.cn German is supposed to be a difficult language, but the Goethe-Jinchuang Sprachlernzentrum Shanghai will be seeking to convince visitors to the German Pavilion that that’s not true. It’s planning to run four 30-minute German taster courses on two afternoons every week for the duration of the world exhibition. News from the German Consulate General in Shanghai Roundtable talk: Germany at the world exhibition From cities in the Urban Best Practices Area to “Germany and China – Moving ahead together” and the “ZHONG/ DE” grounds to the German Centre’s shuttle buses Germany will be present in more parts of the Being Shanghai’s twin city, Hamburg has a speworld exhibition than one might think or rea- cial place. The Hanseatic city will be building its lise. In April, the Consulate General invited the own pavilion in the Urban Best Practices Area various players involved to a roundtable talk on the Puxi side of the EXPO site. The passive to discuss the different areas of involvement. house designed by the Hamburg-based arIn addition to the German Pavilion’s Deputy chitectural firms Spengler & Wiescholek and Director and Cultural Programme Manager, Dittert & Reumschüssel needs an extremeother participants presenting their initiatives ly small amount of energy – an energy conincluded representatives of German cities. sumption level unprecedented in the warm The Hamburg House, “Home of Hidden Enerand humid climate zone of the Yangtze Delta. gies”, is a replica from the HafenCity Hamburg project for the 2010 world exhibition. It only consumes 50 kWh per square metre Image: Spengler & Wiescholek and year, which equates to one quarter of the average energy required by an office building. continued on next page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ☞ page 5 1 May to 31 October 2010 News from EXPO 2010 The EXPO mascot, Haibao, promoting the 2010 world exhibition at shops in Shanghai. Photo: Koelnmesse International Tickets on sale now Tickets for EXPO 2010 are on sale since July 2009. The standard ticket price is 200 RMB (approx. 20 €) on holidays and other busy days and otherwise 160 RMB (approx. 16 €). There will also be evening tickets and multiple-day tickets. From 5 p.m. onwards, tickets will cost 90 RMB (approx. 9 €). The EXPO grounds will be open until midnight, the pavilions until 10:30 at night. A three-day ticket costs 400 RMB (approx. 40 €) and a seven-day ticket 900 RMB (approx. 90 €). The sale of group tickets to tour operators has already started in March 2009. Together with China Mobile, China Telecom, China Post and the Bank of Communication, the EXPO organisers have set up over 3,200 ticketing offices in China. But it will also be possible to purchase tickets at the entrance to the EXPO site on the day of the intended visit. Special tickets will go on sale for the opening ceremony on 30 April 2010 and the final ceremony on 31 October 2010. The EXPO organisers anticipate that takings from ticket sales will come to six billion RMB (approx. 600 million €). At EXPO 2010 in Shanghai, the red-brick buil- of the world exhibition to find a suitable location ding will provide an example of outstanding for a pavilion on the EXPO site. It will be dediexcellence in sustainable construction as well as cated to the topic of “sustainable urbanisation”, being the first certified passive-house construc- as are the “Germany and China – Moving ahead tion project in China. Construction work began together” events. some time ago and the plan is to use it as an office building after the world exhibition. Other German cities (Düsseldorf, Bremen and Freiburg to be precise) will be on show in one of the exhibition halls in the Urban Best Practices Area. Düsseldorf will be presenting itself as an attractive city to live in, where policies are always aimed at creating a modern business hub The German Centre in Shanghai will be setting with high environmental standards and a high up a shuttle service from its offices in Puxi to the quality of life. Examples of these efforts inclu- EXPO site. It plans to run the low-floor buses, de the relocation of the Rheinuferstraße road, which have alternative drive systems, several which now runs through a tunnel, allowing the times a day. old part of the town to move back to the banks of the Rhine; and the transformation of the port The Delegation of German Industry and Comarea, with its old industrial buildings, car parks merce in Shanghai is also planning a Germanand wasteland, into the state-of-the-art “Me- Chinese platform for EXPO 2010 in collaboration dienHafen” district. with the Department of Culture and Education at Germany’s Consulate General. The idea is to Bremen will be presenting an innovative car erect modular, temporary components in an sharing idea as an individual mobility soluti- outdoor space in the heart of the city in the Puon for megacities, which are plagued by traffic tuo district to provide a platform for events and problems. And Freiburg will be showcasing the projects. Two listed buildings, currently still emVauban quarter, which is recognized around the pty, are also to be used, along with the neighworld as an example of a new urban district pro- bouring “M50” creative centre. The “ZHONG/DE” ject designed to ensure ecological sustainability. grounds will explore all aspects of sustainable development and act as a bridge, bringing toEXPO 2010 is set to be the final highlight for the gether all German-Chinese activities and pro“Germany and China – Moving ahead together” jects within and outside the EXPO. programme of events. So Germany’s Federal Foreign Office is negotiating with the organisers page 6 www.expo2010-germany.com Background report Germany – a country aiming for sustainability Examples from balancity Brandis/Waldpolenz solar park Although Germany’s geographical location does not offer ideal conditions for using photovoltaic technology, the Federal Republic is now the world’s second biggest producer of solar electricity. In fact, with a total output of 40 MW, the Brandis energy park is the largest solar plant in the world. It will be showcased in the German Pavilion - such as all following projects. German companies are also among those leading the way in technological innovation in the field of renewable energies. The reason is Germany’s “Renewable Energies Act”, through which financial support has been provided specifically for investments in new energies for more than 10 years now. The approach has been so successful, in fact, that almost 50 nations have now adopted the basic elements of the Act. Redevelopment in East Germany Demographic change and the general decline in population figures in many East German cities mean that the communities there have to display creativity in the urban transformation process. The strategies devised are very different but many of them have one thing in common: enlargement of urban or private green spaces, combined with modernisation and conversion of existing buildings to enhance the city aesthetic and significantly increase quality of life. Storage tanks, located beneath the water’s surface, absorb the overflowing dirty water and pump it back into the sewerage system later. The great thing about the idea is that, as well as keeSpree 2011 At the beginning of the 20th century, there were still around 15 public baths along Berlin’s River Spree. Today, however, the water is far from being of bathing quality. The sewers regularly overflow in heavy rain, causing dirty water to get into the river. A new storage system is now set to provide an inexpensive remedy. With a view to exploring this technology, Germany’s Federal Government launched a technology initiative in 2007, in which German companies such as BASF, Bosch, Merck and Schott are participating. Although the efficiency level of the plastic solar cells is still lower than 5 % at the moment, the cells will be a lot less expensive to manufacture than silicon cells in the long term. Moreover, the organic solar cells are flexible and transparent, which means numerous new possible applications, for instance, transparent films on windows or autonomous operation of electronic devices such as PDAs or mobile phones. Solar thermal power stations Photovoltaics is not the only technology with which electricity can be produced in a profitable and sustainable manner. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technology is another way of generating electricity, primarily intended for use in large-scale solar power stations in the sunniest regions of our planet. Blocks of prefabricated flats in Leinefelde transformed into an attractive residential district Photo: Jean-Luc Valentin HafenCity Hamburg HafenCity Hamburg is as exceptional as it is exemplary. In an area measuring 155 hectares, right next to the city centre, planners have been given free rein to design a new, inner-city district. In line with the concept of sustainable urban development, the goal is an intelligent mix of living, working, leisure and culture. Not a uniform, artificial town, but rather a district steeped in diversity and purposely designed to balance opposites. The modern buildings in HafenCity offer an appealing contrast to the neighbouring historic buildings of Hamburg’s Speicherstadt quarter; architectural highlights such as the Science Center, the Spiegel building and the Elbphilharmonie concert hall are combined with spacious open spaces and parks. Organic photovoltaic technology The sun supplies more than 6,000 times the energy required by the global population – free of charge and infinitely. Harnessing that potential is one of humankind’s most important enterprises. Traditional photovoltaic technology based on silicon cells is only economical to a certain extent because of the high production costs involved. A promising new technology is organic photovoltaics, in which the electricity is generated with the help of solar cells based on organic semiconductor materials. ping the river clean, these storage tanks can also be used for recreational purposes, for example, as bathing platforms. continued on next page . . . . . . . . . . . ☞ page 7 1 May to 31 October 2010 www.expo2010-germany.com Energy efficiency in residential buildings Homes that consume less energy than they generate – just a few years ago, it would have been dismissed as utopian. Today, “Plus Energy” homes are even available in the form of prefabricated houses in Germany. With the help of modern insulating materials, geothermal heat and photovoltaic technology, these houses are able, on average, to generate more energy per year than they consume. A research project by Darmstadt Technical University has taken the idea a step further. Students there have designed a house that obtains the energy it needs from the sun – all year round, including in the winter. A clever combination of The future Elbphilharmonie concert hall in HafenCity Hamburg Image: Herzog & de Meuron photovoltaic and solar thermal technology plus triple and quadruple glazed windows with slatted blinds, a controlled ventilation system and Large parabolic reflectors are used to concentrate the sun’s radiation and conduct it to a receiver pipe. Inside the pipe, a heat transfer fluid is heated, generating steam through a heat exchanger and thus driving a turbine. The heart of such a solar thermal power station is the receiver pipe – almost always from the German company Schott Solar. Studies by the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association (ESTELA) have shown that consistent use of this technology would meet European electricity needs many times over even if it were only used in the Mediterranean countries. Electro-mobility The future of mobility has to be elecMercedes-Benz is a pioneer in fuel cell technology and introduced a sandwich-type vehicle design back in the 1990s with its A class, in which key drive components and batteries were housed in the vehicle’s floor. The first fuel-cell and completely battery driven electrical vehicles are set to go into small-scale production before the end of 2009, based on new technologies such as blue zero. tric – not only due to the ever scarcer supply of fossil fuels but also because of the need to save the world’s climate. In Germany, where Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz invented the automobile over 100 years ago, researchers have already been working on sustainable strategies for emission-free mobility for several years. high-tech insulating materials permits self-sufficient operation even at minus temperatures. It’s an idea with a bright future – at the International Solar Decathlon in Washington in 2007, Darmstadt Technical University’s solar house won first prize. The plans for the 2009 follow-up model are already complete. Published by: Koelnmesse International GmbH Messeplatz 1 50679 Köln (Cologne) Germany Newsletter management: Guido Gudat Koelnmesse GmbH Editor: Marion Conrady Press Officer for the German Pavilion EXPO 2010 On behalf of: An idea with a bright future – Darmstadt Technical University’s solar house won first prize at the International Solar Decathlon. Photo: Kaye Evans-Lutterodt Distribution and contact: e-mail: newsletter-expo2010@koelnmesse.de www.expo2010-germany.com page 8