Pavilion Power
Hello 2020 takes a look at the UAE’s sustainable pavilion design for Milan’s Expo 2015, as the event draws closer to kick off.
Expo Milano is less than a year away. The 2015 edition of the Expo kicks off in May next year and spectacular designs for the UAE’s pavilion have been created by leading architect firm Foster + Partners.
The practice, famous in the UAE for its Index Tower in Dubai’s DIFC district, as well as its contribution to the development of Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, has described the design as ‘bringing the planning principles of the traditional desert city to Milan’.
“We are very proud to be chosen again to create the national pavilion for the UAE,” said Norman Foster, chairman and founder of Foster + Partners. “Our challenge has been to design for two climates – to create a naturally cool, comfortable space for visitors in Milan, while considering the pavilion’s ultimate reconstruction in the Emirates, where there is a need to provide shade from the sun.
“The design reflects our investigations into the form of ancient cities and our appreciation for the desert landscape. It also maximises the opportunities presented by the elongated site – the dramatic canyon.like entrance will welcome people inside, and the channels between the high walls provide intuitive circulation, naturally leading visitors to the auditorium, exhibition and restaurant spaces.”
With more than 20 million people expected to visit the event, the pavilion will expose a potentially huge audience to everything the UAE has to offer. Designed with a capacity for up to 785 visitors an hour, the 140 metre long building has a form familiar to those who have seen the company’s work in Masdar City.The pavilion’s self-shading street is formed in the shadow of two 12.metre high walls, which curve their way from the entrance of the 4,386m2 site to the main exhibition structure, which boasts a 1,175m2 exhibition area.
Sustainability is a key concern of the design team, which is aiming to achieve a LEED Platinum rating for the pavilion. The fact that the pavilion will be dismantled and relocated to the UAE, once Expo Milano is over, will add to the structure’s sustainability credentials. The UAE’s pavilion at the Shanghai Expo in 2010, also designed by Foster + Partners, went through the same relocation process and has since been reassembled on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi.
Priority use of local materials with recycled content will also give the structure an edge in the bid for LEED certification. According to Foster + Partners there will be CO2 absorbing materials used and other resources have been ‘selected for their durability and long term re-use value’.
Energy will be generated through the use of photovoltaic panels, used in combination with solar thermal hot water panels, with the aim of achieving a 30 percent saving over the
use of conventional technology. Additional hot water will be created by recovering heat energy from the cooling plant.
“Everything that we have done is connected to the UAE and its efforts to achieve sustainable solutions,” said Gerard Evenden, the project’s leading architect and a senior partner at Foster + Partners. “We draw on natural landscape and vernacular architecture as well as modern designs that are themselves influencedby traditional forms.
“We had to design for conditions in both Milan and Abu Dhabi. It was a great architectural challenge.”
To learn more about the Expo 2015 Milano :
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