From two to one. The german pavilion in Sevilla's EXPO'92

Abstract

This article provides an exhaustive study of the different representative pavilions of Germany produced for the EXPO’92 in Seville. At the beginning of the process, Germany was divided into two states that would reunify at the same time as the inauguration of the event on the Isla de la Cartuja. This resulted in Germany being the only country to present three different pavilions in Seville. The events that occurred during the project's development transcend the microhistory of the pavilion, revealing the tensions experienced by capitalist society at a problematic moment for the maintenance of nation-states in a context of market internationalization. Furthermore, the reunification of Germany coincides with the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of the division between the Western and Eastern blocs. In Spain, the events of 1992 —the EXPO in Seville, the Olympic Games in Barcelona, and the Ibero-American Summit in Madrid— culminated the transition process initiated in 1975. For the historical reconstruction of the pavilion, various national and international archives were consulted, such as the General Archive of Andalusia and the archives of architects Frei Otto and Heinz Mohl held at the saai | Archiv für Architektur und Ingenieurbau of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. With all these materials, the study aims to provide a critical reading through the disciplines of political philosophy and economic history, enabling an understanding of both the architectural phenomenon and its historical context.