Shanghai World Expo Cultural Center (now Mercedes Benz Arena)

1200 Expo Avenue

Pudong New District

Shanghai

People's Republic of China

 

ECADI (East China Architecture Design & Research Institute) 2010

 

The Expo Cultural Center is one of the biggest and most dramatic of the Shanghai Expo structures, and a powerful legacy for Shanghai, yet curiously anonymous wiithin the Expo. In is so versatile and multifunctional that it has been through various names in its early life, from Performance Center to Culture Center, before taking on its more commerical identity post-Expo as the Mercedes Benz Arena.

 

 

The interior of the Center if a flexible space that can hold up to 18,000 people around a central stage, or be used in other configurations. The viewing gallery creates a defining band around the circumference of the 'saucer', which from the outside also helps to convey the massive scale of the building, in contrast to the tiny people visible on the gallery.

 

 

Simon Glynn 2011

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How to visit

 

The center is in the heart of the former Expo side in Pudong, to the south of central Shanghai. It now operates as the Mercedes Benz Arena. For practical visitor information and to see what is on inside the center, please visit www.mercedes-benzarena.com.

 

The center is right next to the China Pavilion.

 

 

 

 

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