There is no inside, no outside. Airy, light and shiny silver, the building appears almost to hover above the ground. A walkable sculpture of fabric and steel. Behind the metallic shining facade you can see the outlines of tubes. Artistically joined together, they support the exhibition structure of the German Pavilion. The steel projects further and further outwards, allowing the individual parts of the building to reach towards one another – and create a visual equilibrium between them. That is how the architects have translated the theme of Expo 2010 in Shanghai into the design of the German Pavilion: “balancity”. This new word creation, formed from the elements “balance” and “city”, stands for equilibrium between renewal and preservation, between urban development and nature conservation. Here, on an area of 6,000 square metres, visitors will be able to undertake a journey through a “city of ideas” from 1 May to 31 October 2010.
Yet the filigree pavilion structure itself represents more than an attractive shell or covering. “We placed emphasis on sustainability in our choice of all building materials,” says architect Lennart Wiechell. “The steel will be recycled, just like the floor and wall coverings and even the silvery membrane that encompasses the Pavilion.” The open-pored network structure of this special fabric ensures pleasantly cool temperatures in the exhibition spaces – and also saves energy for air conditioning. When the Expo is over, it can be reprocessed into smaller sunshades and even into bags. Sustainability is not only part of the thematic programme at the German Pavilion.
Visions for Tomorrow’s City
The German contribution interprets the Expo motto “Better City, Better Life” with the idea of a city in balance. The World Fair in Shanghai is focusing on the prospects for city life: some 240 countries and international organizations are presenting their visions on this subject during the 184 days of the Expo. Very different ideas are being realized: Poland favours a pavilion exterior made of paper and Luxembourg has included large areas of greenery, while Canada presents a special system that uses rainwater and Chile a garden roof. All the designs have a common goal: presenting paths to sustainable urban planning, to a better life in the cities of the future.
It’s a big topic. The “millennium of cities” (Kofi Annan) is a global challenge. Today more than half the world’s population live in cities and by the year 2040 the total is expected to reach 64.7%. In 1950, New York and Tokyo were the only cities with more than ten million inhabitants. Today, there are 20 of them and the figure is rising. The term “megacity” has long been accepted for cities with more than 20 million inhabitants, like Tokyo and Mumbai. The fastest growing metropoles also include Expo host Shanghai: 700,000 new inhabitants come to live in the city of over 15 million every year. However, the populations will grow fastest in the cities of the developing and newly industrialized countries. Their cities attract people like powerful magnets because they offer hopes of employment and a better life. Professor Mike Davis, a US expert on urban questions, is convinced: “The entire future growth of humanity will occur in cities, overwhelmingly in poor cities.”
And the fastest growth will take place in slums: today, according to calculations by the United Nations, one billion people already live in the slum districts of the world’s cities and they are joined by another 27 million every year. The problems of the megalopoles also grow as a result: declining social control, overburdened infrastructure, massive hygiene deficits and enormous mountains of waste. Horrific living conditions. The ecological problems are also immense. Cities consume 75% of the energy produced worldwide and their share of greenhouse gas emissions is approximately 80%. Sustainability is becoming increasingly important in city planning.
Pavilion Tour I: Levels of Sustainability
In front of the entrance to the German Pavilion, the path of discovery winds through a green landscape. Nature plays an important role in balancity. The students Jens and Yanyan accompany guests on their way – initially in virtual form. The German introduces the young Chinese woman and the Pavilion visitors to his country – with the aid of enormous, sometimes interactive postcards. The path continues through a tunnel, a pulsating portal of light that leads into another world – into the midst of a deep-blue sea. Visitors re-emerge at the Pavilion’s Harbour. Seagulls screech, ships blow their horns and HafenCity Hamburg, Europe’s largest urban development project, appears as the cityscape of the future. Nearby, in the Planning Office, a new space with enormous plans, models, sketches and city maps unfolds from a skyline. The focus here is on innovative sustainable urban development, city infrastructure as a living process. The Pavilion presents concrete projects from Germany: a multigenerational house in Stuttgart, the green belt in Cologne, the Schlierberg Plus Energy Settlement in the Solar City of Freiburg. The Planning Office enables visitors to experience the different levels of sustainability – social, ecological and economic.
Megacities – Political Weight, Great Opportunities
Megacities increase the pressure for sustainable strategies – and they offer opportunities. “Their political weight gives them a pioneering role in national and international innovations,” says city researcher Professor Günter Meinert, German representative at the Cities Alliance in Washington. The organization works on city development strategies. According to Meinert, a metropolitan region with several million cars has definite global relevance in terms of traffic emissions. He sees Shanghai as a positive example here: almost two-thirds of all journeys are carried out in the city on foot or by bicycle. He also cites the example of the Thai capital, Bangkok: over 40% of the population use public transport. Meinert considers “good urban governance” one of the solutions to cities’ problems. That was the case in Bogota, the capital of civil war-torn Colombia. “Outstanding mayors succeeded in using creative ideas to mobilize large sections of the population and achieving far-reaching improvements with their support – above all, in transport, security and the quality of public spaces.
Pavilion Tour II: Impulses for Sustainable Cities
The Garden of the German Pavilion makes the crowds of the megacities seem far away. Colourful collages present visions of private green islands in the city. The Depot, on the other hand, demonstrates just how many facets sustainable life in the city can have. In the large, dark red, shimmering room stand shelves containing products that contribute to the Expo motto “Better City, Better Life”. They range from a washing machine that saves up to 30% washing powder through automatic dosing to eco-efficient pencils made of materials from sustainably managed forests. Stimuli for sustainable urban development are also presented in the Factory. Everything here is on the move. Visitors glide through the room on moving walkways while objects travel above their heads on conveyor belts. These represent innovations, products and processes for the livable city developed by German companies and institutions. One example is the penguin robot. The seabird’s movements inspired developers working on efficient automation systems. The next stop on the Pavilion tour is the Park, a quiet city space with chirping birds and the scent of grass. Viewing bells allow visitors to undertake virtual journeys to German parks and gardens – from Shanghai to the Federal Garden Show in Schwerin or the Wilhelma in Stuttgart and then back again to China’s most important industrial metropoles.
Sino-German Teamwork
Urbanization is one of the central topics for the Expo host country: China has seven cities with more than ten million inhabitants and 175 cities with populations of over one million. By contrast, Europe today has only 66 cities with more than one million inhabitants. According to United Nations forecasts for China, the number of city dwellers will increase by 350 million by the year 2030. That is why sustainable urbanization is the overarching theme of the three-year festival “Germany and China – Moving Ahead Together”. Its first stop was the provincial capital Nanjing in 2007. A Green Walking Tour Map pointed the way to production sites using solar energy, geothermal energy and biogas. It also showed where ecological hot water systems are used for large hotel complexes. The touring Sino-German festival has also visited Chongqing, Guangdong, Shenyang and Wuhan. Its conclusion and climax is now taking place in May 2010 at the Expo in Shanghai. Teamwork for the city of the future.
Pavilion Tour III: Working Together
The Energy Source is the heart of the German Pavilion. Light floods the cone-shaped space and a number of galleries with room for 600 spectators. In the middle hangs an imposing sphere measuring three metres in diameter, weighing 1,230 kilograms and studded with 400,000 LEDs. The final show begins. Pavilion visitors now become actors themselves: their joint chants and claps make images appear on the sphere and set it in motion. It begins to swing back and forth. The more it swings, the more intense the colours become. The energy of the sphere is reflected through the entire space: on the balustrades, on the walls, on the ceiling and on the floor. It keeps swinging until it eventually starts moving in a circle, flying past the amazed onlookers. In rapid succession it presents pictures of Germany and balancity. Eventually, the sphere returns to a standstill and the continents become clearly visible on its surface. The mysterious object has been transformed into a globe, which is rather appropriate: after all, the urban future is a challenge for the whole world – and we can accomplish a great deal if we work together.
