Shanghai Expo organizers will revamp more old factories and
buildings into Expo pavilions, making the west bank of the Huangpu
River a model for protecting historical architecture.
Fifty-one constructions, out of 53 Expo buildings on the Puxi
side of the river, will be renovated from either old factories or
preserved buildings, organizers said as construction started
today.
The Puxi side of the site, covering 1.35 square kilometers, will
be the venues for corporate pavilions, cultural performances and
the Urban Best Practices Area, one of the highlights of the
event.
The project includes revamping the old workshops at the
century-old Nanshi Power Plant, which closed in September. It will
host the Exploration of Future Cities exhibition.
Above the workshops, the organizers are planning to transform a
165-meter chimney into a state-of-the-art observation tower.
Also, the 142-year-old Jiangnan Shipyard, also at the Puxi site,
will be turned into a performance center.
The first phase includes building three roads – Longhua Road E.,
Bansongyuan Road and Baotun Road – as well as a pumping station on
Mengzi Road. The site is close to the Nanpu Bridge.
The construction will also include 22 major outdoor squares for
cultural performances, an elevated pedestrian road and part of the
Expo Boulevard.
Construction of the Puxi site is expected to be completed in 18
months.
After the Expo, some of the venues in Puxi will be turned into
museums featuring both the history and the future of
manufacturing.
Construction started last year on permanent pavilions at the
Pudong site such as the China Pavilions, Theme Pavilion and Expo
Center.
Planners will turn 95,500 square meters of workshops and
warehouses, or about 14 percent of the total area of the Expo site,
into exhibition halls or public activity centers, the biggest-ever
renovation project for old factories in the Expo history.
(Shanghai Daily January 22, 2008)