German Pavilion for Expo 2020 ready for next stage

Campus Germany, the German Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, celebrated another construction milestone on Wednesday morning with a traditional topping-out ceremony, as work on the site progresses into the next stage of the pavilion's construction.
With the shell of the pavilion now complete, the exhibition design team has moved on to finalising the content, and hiring staff for the pavilion. Work will be underway on the pavilion interior in the next few weeks, and Cologne-based agency facts and fiction will start finalising the details of the exhibition. The displays, in digital and hands-on formats, will showcase German innovations and solutions related to sustainability.
Speaking at the topping-out ceremony, Denis Steker, senior vice president of Koelnmesse - International, revealed that over the past 12 months, construction workers have spent some 38,350 hours helping to complete the shell of Campus Germany, with approximately 480 metric tonnes of steel within the constructional steelwork and 2,300 cubic metres of concrete poured into place. "It is a tremendous accomplishment to build the basic structure of such an impressive building from scratch within the space of one year - a building that will represent the innovativeness, creativity, and inventiveness of the Federal Republic of Germany. As the company organising this project, we at Koelnmesse are proud of what has been achieved so far and are confident as we look ahead to the construction phases to come," he said.
Dietmar Schmitz, commissioner general of the German Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, noted that the event on Wednesday was not just a celebration of the construction milestone, but also a major milestone in the history of world exhibitions.
"Expo 2020 Dubai is the first expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia region," he said. "The location alone means that it will bring together more people from different cultures and countries and more ideas from wide-ranging disciplines and fields than any of its predecessors. There is hardly a better city than Dubai to embody the underlying notion of connection in modern world exhibitions. Unique in its architecture and ability to adapt, Dubai is home to people from more than 200 nations, co-existing in peace, tolerance and acceptance. It's a city like no other. And I'm convinced this world exhibition will be like no other too."
"It is a pleasure to be here today at this important milestone for the Germany Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. We look forward to seeing the country's sustainable innovations come to life at campus germany and make an important contribution to an unforgettable experience for expo's millions of visitors," said Maha Al Gargawi, VP of Political Affairs at Expo 2020 Dubai.
- rohma@khaleejtimes.com