Fabian Schludi, Shanghai
At the latest when the Shanghai Expo 2010 – the biggest world exhibition ever – ended, the inevitable question arose: what will happen to the vast EXPO site and all the pavilions? More than one year later this question remains unanswered. Many pavilions and buildings are still standing – empty, unused and decaying.  Contrary to the regulations by the Bureau International des Expositions, which state all pavilions should be removed after the end of an EXPO, a lot of the nations left their buildings in Shanghai behind like a graveyard of ruins. Neither fulfilled were former claims of the Shanghai Expo Bureau that the area would be turned into a new “green lung” of Shanghai – a public park site. Originally designed to last a couple of months, many of the constructions suffer from usual temporary building’s problems such as weak building stock and lack sanitary facilities and (communicational) infrastructure. At the end it seems to be quite difficult to follow up on sustainable usage – not to speak of political questions for re-use concepts.

Zone B - formerly housing South-East Asian and Pacific Pavilions. Photograph: Peter Wolkowicz

For example the Africa Joint Pavilion, a huge hall of approximately 20.000 m2, is completely empty and awaits new utilization as an event space. Poor public transport with only few buses reaching the hall, the next metro-station being somewhat far away and no real liveliness around emerging are not easy to make up for. Surrounded by numerous empty and slowly dilapidating pavilions the area needs a holistic master plan for re-usage – not simply a sluggish bit-by-bit redevelopment of existing buildings. The EXPO area is close to the city centre, already includes some interesting remaining pavilions, like the Chinese of the Saudi-Arabian and even a beautiful park-promenade along the river shore. What more would you need to establish a prime estate attracting investors? The EXPO-Site could easily be turned into a promising, modern and exemplary eco-district of Shanghai.

German Pavilion Site: Photograph: Peter Wolkowicz

Puxi side of the Expo - other than the Pudong side not open to the public. Photograph: Peter Wolkowicz

Currently the Shanghai Government is already engaging in restructuring and redeveloping the Puxi-side of the EXPO-Site in a much wider frame. The city considers turning the this part of the 5,3 km2 area into a cultural and recreational area for the citizens of Shanghai. Covering an area of almost 220.000 m2 Triad is developing a master plan, staging an industrial museum, a conference centre and several other public facilities. These and ahead of all the museum allow the visitor to experience the Shanghai industrial development anew, telling the unique story of the Pearl River Delta’s rise and how it affected the development of the world’s biggest nation. The site will form a public space, an ideal spot to escape Shanghai’s bustling streets into somewhat like an oasis of nature, providing breathtaking view across the water towards Pudong’s shore, where the impressive Chinese Pavilion and the Mercedes-Benz Arena unfortunately still remain sadly surrounded by architectural corpses. We hope that this will change, soon…