MILAN EXPO
Where did the inspiration for the design of the US Pavilion come from? American agricultural buildings, Coney Island Boardwalk, the first Expo building (Crystal Palace, London, 1851), the long narrow site, America’s love affair with the road and the aspirations of America to be transparent, open and accessible while offering freedom of choice.
What were you trying to achieve? We wanted to create a scaffolding for ideas, a social space, a pavilion that could be experienced in multiple ways, and one that was never blocked by a discouraging queue out front. The pavilion was to be an invitation to enter, not a fortress protecting the interior.
The building is quite simple in design. Why was this important? Having spent time at a number of other pavilions I’m more convinced than ever that we did exactly the right thing in creating an open, free flowing, breezy building that can be understood in an instant, but experienced as a rich sequence of events. The simple elegance of the formal idea (a long open extrusion with a rising ramp and grand exit stair) allowed us to concentrate our resources on the things that matter. A complex form would have precluded that.
James Biber, Partner, Biber Architects
What were the biggest challenges of designing this pavilion? Time, money and the restrictions of the context (just like any other project). We also invented some architectural elements that had never been done before, such as the vertical farm façade in motion, and individually addressed digital roof array, and required custom solutions that had to
work perfectly from day one. We didn’t have an R&D budget or years to develop these elements, but had to invent them on the run.
There have been criticisms that the Milan Expo is wasteful and is a vanity fair. What are your thoughts on that? Jacques Herzog was nearly 100 per cent right in his original plan. It was a brilliant and logical way to undo much of the waste at an Expo. He was right except for the fact that no one would participate in that version of an Expo. Expo is the design Olympics, and tucking a few temporary sheds under a tented site would not satisfy the participants’ need to express their national identity in an open and competitive forum. This Expo may succeed in raising issues for a global conversation, and that would make it enormously successful.
What is your favourite pavilion at the Expo other than your own? Pavilions I admire include the Bahrain pavilion (a small, domestically-scaled pavilion, beautifully crafted and simply arranged. plus no queue!); the UK pavilion (one idea, elegantly executed); the Austria pavilion (a complete forest in a straightforward rectangle); and the Future Food Pavilion (a working co-op supermarket).
What did you want to achieve with the US Pavilion exhibition design? Global food security is becoming an enormous and very interesting issue. We think the United States has a great story to tell about the innovative research and different communities of expertise working on these issues. We want to present this not just as a problem but as an opportunity. It’s not just about solving the problem of population growth, it’s about harnessing human energy and having a planet that’s healthier than the one we were born to.
Tom Hennes Founder, Thinc Design
Can you talk us through some of the key features of the exhibition? We begin with a soundscape that comes from the indigenous Native Americans, giving thanks for nature’s bounty. Then a chorus of other American voices connected to the land, including a farmer, pick up the story. Visitors then move up the step ramp to the middle floor, or boardwalk. Outside the pavilion, a magnificent two and half acre vertical farm features crop plants growing on
big pivoting panels that are positioned to capture sun. We’ve brought some of these plants inside; exhibit stations spiral upwards, and are topped with ‘chandeliers’ growing the plants. The stations have screens attached, with each presenting a different perspective on global food scarcity. In the centre of that is an interactive exhibit that six people can play at any time – it brings all of these threads together. We also have a rooftop terrace which has a view of the whole expo site. It’s primarily a place to decompress and it also acts as a space for special events. On the ground floor we have the Great American Foodscape, which is a landscape of folded forms that have videos projected onto them telling the story of American history and culture through its food.
What do you want people to take away from their experience? I want them to feel they know Americans a little better; to know that we’re a country of diversity that likes to invent and to solve problems.
CLAD mag 2015 ISSUE 2
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