A few days ago, the building made by Alpine, an FCC subsidiary, to act as the official home of the Austrian Pavilion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai crossed the threshold of one and a half million visitors since the 1st of May, when the World Expo opened.

Built on an area of 2,000 square metres, the Austrian pavilion is situated at one of the Expo grounds' landmark locations, near the Lupu Bridge in the immediate vicinity of the pavilions belonging to Rumania, the Netherlands and Croatia.

The design of the futuristic-looking construction was developed by the Viennese architectural studio, SPAN & Zeytinoglu.

The ground floor of the pavilion has an exhibit area (more than 500 m2), with a stage in the main hall that is used for different events. Multimedia projections are thrown on the ceilings, walls and floors of all the exhibit halls. The ground floor also houses the Austrian shop and a counter for the Austrian National Office of Tourism.

On the upper floor of the pavilion, the Austrian restaurant has an open-air dining room. The adjoining VIP Room is open to Austrian companies, regions and organisations for receptions, events and presentations.

The Central European country's pavilion reflects the harmonious interaction of city, landscape, nature, urban habitats and urban cultural landscapes in a design that appeals to all the senses and is innovative in both conception and execution. Austria's participation thus does honour to the chosen subtopic, "Interaction Between Rural and Urban Areas".

Business in China

Austrian subsidiary Alpine Bau GmbH has been working in China for some years, partnering local firms. At present it provides jobs for close to 500 employees. Foremost amongst the projects the company is engaged in are the Ningbo Expressway, the number-one north tunnel of the Yellow River detour, the BASF-YPC/IPS engineering and maintenance centre, the Haefele equipment factory, the ABB Turb Dsystems factory, the Degussa Technical Centre and the construction of the German School.