Innovation and Construction

The concept of the "smart house" as seen on TV and in magazines many times, will also be presented in Shanghai. The user is supposed to interact with the building, navigating the most important functions all from one spot. Within this so called „room management system“, developed by a Chinese partner company, the central navigation is provided by a device which works like a mixture of a cell phone and a touch pad.

Energy technology, otherwise difficult to integrate creatively, has been architecturally realised in an extravagant way in the Innovations Pavilion. The aim was to design a building which appears lightweight, but still fulfils the concept of a Pavilion and also encourages the visitors to experience innovative energy technologies live.

Structural Design
The building is a temporary innovation pavilion and it is intended to present newly developed, energy-saving industrial products there. The building complex is built on top of an existing underground car park and consists of the following elements:
• Building Element 1 - Steel Roof Construction
• Building Element 2 - Technical Building
• Building Element 3 - Glasshouse
• Building Element 4 - Information Building
• Building Element 5 - Grillage / Foundations

The main construction elements are two different concrete cubes, a connection made of glass, a tilted steel roof on a 21 m long and 19 m wide above-ground grillage. One cube, the information building, is a two floor building. The other cube, the technical building, is a one floor building. A construction made of glass connects the cubes.

Steel Roof Construction
The steel roof overstretches corrugatedly a part of the buildings and has an inclination of 7 degrees. The beams of grid are arragened in a kind of "pick-up sticks" shape. The grid is supported by short steel columns which are connected with the concrete walls of the technical and information buildings and additional three single steel columns.

To prefabricate the steel roof construction for production it was divided into 4 parts for transportation on the street. So these 4 single parts could be manufactured in a horizontal position in the steel plant. On site the individual parts will be lifted into their final position in a roof inclination of 7 degrees.