Call opens for World Expo Museum designs

Shanghai's World Expo Museum slated to open as the sole official home of past, present and future Expo-related memorabilia for the International Exhibitions Bureau by 2015 has opened a call for design proposals for the structure to be built inside the Expo Park, said local authorities.

Expo authorities said that they want to be inspired by a motif that embraces a "lasting and influential Expo-effect" to compliment further development plans for the park in remembering the legacy of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.

As such, fostering commercial and cultural interests remains a top priority, authorities added, noting that existing exhibits did well to draw visitors to the park during the Spring Festival holiday. Some 46,000 people hit the Saudi Arabia Pavilion last week, while Spain's Baby Miguelin, dressed in a traditional Chinese bellyband, impressed roughly 4,000 visitors the day it opened over the holiday.

The Italy Pavilion and Luxembourg Pavilion, meanwhile, completed renovations to their structures over the break and will welcome visitors back in March; while the 26,000-square-meter Joint-Africa Pavilion reopens later this year to serve international exhibitions and conferences.