EXPOTECHNIK

The German Pavilion shows a balanced city

Taunusstein/Shanghai, April 2010.
More than seven million people are expected in the German Pavilion in the 184 days of the EXPO. The countdown to the start is running – the EXPO Shanghai will open its doors under the theme of “Better City, Better Life” from May 1 until October 31, 2010. The message of the German Pavilion in this respect is: it is definitely desirable to live in a city if it has the right balance – the balance between renewal and preservation, innovation and tradition, city and nature, community and individual, globalization and national identity, work and leisure. Therefore, the German contribution to EXPO 2010 is called Balancity, an artificial word from Balance and City.

The idea behind the word creation “balancity” is to bring the interaction of all elements into balance. The production process of the German Pavilion was also a balancing act of sorts, as numerous different partners participated in a cooperation to realize the project.

The Expotechnik Group was commissioned with the interior finishing work of the VIP lounge, the restaurant, the visitor’s information desk and the souvenir shop by the German Pavilion Consortium. For Expotechnik it was necessary to find a balance in two respects: On the one hand it had to take into account the requirements and ideas of the architects from Schmidhuber + Kaindl – an exciting experience for Expotechnik to understand the thoughts and ideas of another company. On the other hand the design and quality understanding of the Asian colleagues, which was completely foreign to a European way of thinking, had to be harmonized with their own ideas on site. Through the many years of experience in international business and the know-how of its own branch in Shanghai, Expotechnik succeeded in meeting these various requirements. The aim was to also take the impressive external appearance into account in the interior of the pavilion.

"With this impressive pavilion project and three other projects at World Expo 2010, Expotechnik considerably contributes to the realization of best interior design quality in the Asian event industry. Furthermore, it is an important step for our company in the international expansion of our third activity field Environments – in addition to the activity fields Exhibitions and Events", says Alexander D. Soschinski, Managing Partner of Expotechnik Group.

In order to match the seemingly floating shape of the whole pavilion, the VIP Lounge was designed in dynamic and flowing forms. Expotechnik was responsible for the complete interior finishing work including wall and ceiling paneling. These had to be adjusted exactly owing to the asymmetric, geometrically complex architecture with numerous slopes, angles and intersections, which demanded very precise work down to the last detail. The task also included the furnishing of the various areas, which to a large extent required specially designed furniture. Among other elements, Expotechnik built counter segments, a bar counter with integrated benches and free-standing seating areas according to the architects’ instructions. The colors black and white and highgloss surfaces dominate the design. The central material of the space-forming construction was glass developed by Schott AG, which Schott AG provided as sponsor of the German Pavilion Consortium.

A special display cabinet top attachment was produced for the shop, for which Amiran® was used, a Schott glass that reduces light reflections to less than one percent. In alternating light conditions, normal glass often it is often difficult to look inside from the outside. Amiran® avoids this negative effect and moreover makes it possible to present the objects and colors authentically behind glass. The material is almost invisible and has an easy-to-clean and very durable, longlasting surface – optimum prerequisites for a display cabinet at the World Exhibition. The Expotechnik Group had to build a specially designed conference table. With its pentagonal top and a complex base, its shape resembles a multi-edged rock. Its white surface, on the other hand, gives an upscale look and makes it match perfectly with the whole design of the room. Expotechnik used a special glass from SCHOTT for the wall paneling here as well.

“The cooperation with the Expotechnik Group in the shop area of the German Pavilion was excellent. With such a special project unexpected questions and tasks are part of the daily routine. The Expotechnik Group always responded reliably and quickly provided us optimum support in this respect. We very much appreciate this professionalism”, Salvatore Ruggiero, Director of event management at SCHOTT AG.

These examples illustrate the major importance of the individual shapes and materials – and, above all, all their interaction with the design. For Expotechnik the collaboration in the German Pavilion was not just an excellent possibility to demonstrate its own skills, but also a distinction and a particularly impressive experience.