Pavilion construction: The story so far

The Swedish pavilion is the centerpiece of our country's participation at Shanghai Expo 2010. Designed by Swedish architecture firm SWECO, it will house an exhibition showcasing Sweden's spirit of innovation, and how this spirit permeates all aspects of Swedish society.

(You can see what it will look like when finished in this 3D simulation.)

Groundbreaking for the pavilion occurred on April 20, 2009, with just over a year to go before the opening of Expo on May 1, 2010. Here's a view of what the plot looked like during the ceremony:

Satellite imagery taken on April 2, 2009 was recently published to Google Maps and Google Earth. This is the view from space then:

You can explore more of the region in Google Maps here.

During the Shanghai summer, piles were driven into the ground — this is the foundation of every construction project. By September, the pavilion's steel skeleton started to take shape above ground:

In October, once the main steel girders were in place, work was started on placing the floors, as well as the stairs:

Of course, all of this is done with safety in mind:

Later in October, scaffolding was placed around the structure, so that work could begin on the the outer walls:

Simultaneously, work was started inside on the airconditioning ducts and sprinkler system:

The Swedish pavilion comprises of three cube-ish steel structures, and one wooden cube, arranged so that they form the Swedish flag when seen from above. The wooden structure will be an atrium-like entrance, and its assembly was begun in November, when all the parts had arrived:

Work continued apace throughout the Christmas holidays. Now in January, the roof is being installed:

Here is a view of where the roof-top bar will be, with Lupu Bridge in the background:

The future entrace of the pavilion will be here, minus the scaffolding, of course:-)

The aim is to have the main construction finished by the Chinese New Year in mid February. Then, focus will shift to installing the exhibition.

You can see more and higher-resolution pictures of the construction process on Flickr.