Expo 2000 - German pavilion

German pavilion

The architecture - 130 m long, 90 m wide and 17 m high - is impressive for its lightweight appearance and its elegance. Architect and investor Josef Wund used a wide range of technically innovative designs in order to achieve this airy impression.

The building is spanned by six roof elements of structural steel clad with timber panels. Each element weighs over 200 tonnes and is supported by 4 glass columns with a steel core. The façade construction is a pre-stressed design based on new technology which dispenses with supports, cross bars and pretensioning wires, yet supports a dead weight of 550 tonnes. The inward-sweeping concave glass skin ends in a reflecting water trough - giving the illusion of a boundless surface.

Prominent Features

The lightness of design was continued in the door areas as well: due to the virtually invisible BTS 80 floor springs and the elegant TS 93 overhead door closers from DORMA, and also the traditional purism of the 8906 lever handles from OGRO.