Expo 2000 - Hannover - 2011
Situated in Hannover, Germany is Expo 2000, a Worldwide Fair that would showcase some of the worlds most interesting creations of design in the construction industry.
Something about that year (The Millennium) wasn't a good thing when it comes to building projects, nor the financial gain.
We all know our own fate with the Millennium Dome, that wasn't ever built to it's full potential or on time or for the proposed financial target.
And here is Expo 2000, they got the contract to build it in 1990, beating Toronto in a bid by only 1 vote.
The building project took place on the old Hannover fair ground. 155 nations did take part, but many pulled out including America in a very late stage, the area for America to build on was left unconstructed.
40,000,000 visitors were expected to come to the event that lasted over 5 months but only 25,210,000(ish) came probably because the costs of the tickets were so high at 69 Deutsche Marks each.
This meant the low numbers and the countries that had not taken part cost the event organisers over $600,000,000 (yes, thats 600 million dollars!!)
Today
The year is 2011, over a decade since it's fateful opening. Some buildings are still in use, BMW being the biggest company on site and IKEA have set up a very large warehouse.
Some buildings are left abandoned, Spain is probably the most blandest of buildings, their architect should be shot imo, what was he thinking?!
Holland made an amazing effort, an inside out building, with tree trunks holding a floor up, external staircases, it really throws your brain into a whirl.
Another abandoned building is Lithuania, The Big Banana lol (thats my name for it anyway), this could be reused into quite an amazing house for someone but stands boarded up.
Here is the wiki link for further info. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_2000
We visited at night and during the day.
1. Holland
An image of Holland during it's heyday..
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...xpo2000_nl.jpg
Photo Copyright: Jürgen Götzke
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2.
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3.
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4. This level was at some point in the last couple of years was used by a tramp, quite the high life!
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5.
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6.
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On the day visit we met the sites caretaker, he spoke very little English, but made an effort, he was a nice and enthusiastic about the past events, at least someone enjoyed and appreciated the show. He showed us to the top of the building and gave us a good insight of the area around us.
7. This is our friend, his name was Christian...
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8.
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9.
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10.
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11.
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12. Denmark
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13.
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14.
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15. Spain
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16. Poland Poland is actually being reused for another event. Mongolian workers are doing the refit and my Mongolian translation is nil so I don't know what event for.
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17. Czech Republic
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18. The Big Banana aka Lithuania
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19.
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20.
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21. The Pavilion of Hope
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22.
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23.
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24. IKEA
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25.
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D-UK
