HANNOVER EXPO'00 VISION

In Nepal, 800 families are busily crafting pieces of the Himalayan Pavilion that will be handmade without the use of modern machinery. The creative project of architects Amrit Shakya and Subarna K. Shresta, it will typify traditional Asian architecture for sacred buildings.

The United States pavilion, designed by architects Regina Leibinger and Frank Barchow, lays out small-town America with two Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired wooden houses connected to Main Street and its culturally diverse attractions.

With environmental awareness at the heart of Expo 2000, this fair addresses up front what traditionally has been a downside for the host country. Typically, fairs produce elaborate, but temporary structures, memorable for their striking designs, but enjoying a relatively brief stand. Most are dismantled when the world show completes its run; others become ghostly relics, unused and abandoned. Sustainability, a key theme of Expo 2000, will ensure that much of the new construction will be pressed into service as functional office, educational or commercial space, and many enterprises already have made commitments for post-Expo use. The University of Hannover has claimed space for its Design Center, and an international university for women will take up residence at the exposition site. 

The French pavilion, a wood and glass composition designed by architect Francoise-Helene Jourda, will become home to that country’s sports department store chain Decathlon, which already has taken over construction costs. Other Expo 2000 structures will be transported to their home countries or host locations, and reassembled in part or whole as museums or cultural attractions. Choosing the existing Hannover Fair Grounds , which is surrounded by technology heavyweights such as Bosche, Blaupunkt, and Siemens as the site for Expo 2000, positions the location as an economically viable venue that can sustain post-exhibition traffic, and makes it more attractive to after-market investors.

Lastly, the journey to Expo 2000 will be further representation of this exhibition’s architecture and environmental dynamic. A partnership between German Rail and Expo 2000 allows the fair to benefit from a planned upgrade of high-speed express intercity train routes and in-town stations, which, in many cases, will cut travel time significantly and eliminate transfer points to Hannover. A new Hannover Trade Fair/Laatzen station directs visitors through a dramatic, transparent, caterpillar-like tunnel, providing easy access to Expo’s western entrance. Direct access to Expo from the airport via a new city underground station will further reduce the need to drive. To highlight the Expo/German Rail partnership, Hannover buses and high-speed train have sported the Expo 2000 logo since 1998.

Existing Exhibition Office-Hall at Expo 2000

With its pioneering introduction of environmentally enhanced architecture, Expo 2000 lays the foundation for the Japan 2005, a "green" exhibition which is slated to call for recognition of nature’s wisdom.

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