The Expo Axis is one of the world's largest membrane roofs. It spanned the entrance and boulevard building of the World Exposition 2010 in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

. The combination of the membrane structure, which has a surface of 65,000 m² in total with a span of 100 m, and the six steelglass funnels of 45 m height, formed of a freeform double-curved framework, constitutes the landmark of the Expo Shanghai 2010.

Structure

Besides the China Pavilion, the Expo Axis is the largest and most significant building on the site. It forms the central entrance area and provides 334,000 m² effective area for numerous facilities. Via the about 1 km long and about 100m wide axis, which stretches across the entire site to the

Huangpu River The Huangpu (), formerly romanized as Whangpoo, is a river flowing north through Shanghai. The Bund and Lujiazui are located along the Huangpu River. The Huangpu is the biggest river in central Shanghai, with the Suzhou Creek being its ma ...

, the visitors are guided to the various national and theme-based pavilions. The Expo Axis and its boulevard is one of five buildings which remain after the end of the world expo to form the centre of a new urban district of

. The Expo Axis is covered by a membrane roof with a total surface of 65,000 m², currently the largest of its kind in the world. The roof is carried by 19 interior and 31 exterior masts and by six funnel shaped framework shells consisting of steel and glass. It has a height of 45 m and a free projection of 80 m. These so-called Sun Valleys direct natural LED light below. The design and development of the structure originate from SBA International and

Knippers Helbig Knippers Helbig is an engineering company based in Stuttgart, New York City , and Berlin. It was founded in 2001 and specializes in structural design and facade engineering of German and international construction projects involving high-rise ...

Advanced Engineering Stuttgart /

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. In terms of structure and shape, the roof structure lives up to Stuttgart’s tradition of the internationally respected lightweight constructions, including the tent construction of the German Pavilion and the

Buckminster Fuller Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing m ...

-designed

geodesic dome A geodesic dome is a hemispherical thin-shell structure (lattice-shell) based on a geodesic polyhedron. The triangular elements of the dome are structurally rigid and distribute the structural stress throughout the structure, making geodesic ...

American Pavilion The American pavilion is a national pavilion of the Venice Biennale. It houses the United States' official representation during the Biennale. Background The Venice Biennale is an international art biennial exhibition held in Venice, Italy. ...

Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It was a category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most su ...

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Gallery

Image:Exposh2.jpg, Building site Image:Columnhead expo.jpg, Column head Image:091231-expoaxis-detail.jpg, Completed Construction of Expo Axis in December 2009 Image:Expoaxis-knippershelbig-01.jpg, Expo Axis, May 2010 Image:Expoaxis-knippershelbig-03.jpg, Expo Axis, May 2010 Image:Expoaxis-knippershelbig-04.jpg, Expo Axis, May 2010 Image:Expoaxis-knippershelbig-05.jpg, Sun Valley Expo Axis, May 2010 Image:Expoaxis-knippershelbig-06.jpg, Membrane Construction Expo Axis, May 2010

References

External links

Official site

Press release Structural Engineer SBA International
{{Coord, 31.1857334, 121.4879859, display=title, type:landmark, format=dms 2010 establishments in China Buildings and structures completed in 2010 Buildings and structures in Shanghai Expo 2010 Roofs World's fair architecture in China Pudong