New Trade Fair, Leipzig

Close to the airport and the motorway access, a new man-made place has been created, a comprehensive work of art with urban and landscape design, architecture, and structural engineering. The basic concept of the development is straightforward: from the public local transport station on the one side or from the parking lots on the other side, visitors venture into a central, 2-km-long valley, which lies one level below the exhibition halls with their HGV delivery facilities at the back. This means that the traffic from the different user groups does not cross over anywhere. This valley has been designed as a landscaped park with a number of features. On both sides there are entrance halls providing access to the exhibition halls, which have been placed in a row along the edge of the embankment. The largest of them, with the extra height, is used as a multi-purpose hall. This has a counterpart in the conference and congress center with its separate access. In combination with the elegant tower, the entrance hall West with its 80-meter span and 240-meter length represents the landmark of the trade fair complex. It is suspended from large trussed arches that support a glass envelope without a single expansion joint. Each of the 1.50 x 3.00 m glass panes is attached at four points; together they create an enormous glazed barrel roof, completely smooth and without profiles on the interior—a new Crystal Palace at the end of the 20th Century.