IAAC RESEARCH TRIP _ MILAN

IAAC RESEARCH TRIP MILAN OCTOBER 30-31

RESEARCH TRIP 2015 - MILAN

food production in a world of cities We live in a world of cities: in 2014 54% of global population lived in urban settlements, generating 70% of the global GDP (gross domestic product) but consuming large part of the global resources.

In the eighth month of each year, the human population consumes all the resources that our

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planet can produce in 12 months: food, water, raw material. This lack of balance between consumption and production of resources demonstrates the unsustainability of an economic model based on industrial production of goods, intensive agriculture and uncontrolled use of fossil energy.

Food production is going to be a crucial issue for the next decades: industrial cultivation methods and soil sealing make cultivable land not sufficient anymore to feed the entire human population.

Can cities and architecture be the solution?

In the Urban Age, designing the human habitat means designing a new urban habitat, more efficient cities as distributed networks, capable to produce locally their resources, to enhance a new urban metabolism through Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

It also means bringing back agriculture to city, enabling citizens as members of diffused networks of producers, generating new resilient landscapes into the urban organism, re-cycling urban voids and enhancing existing buildings and public spaces as places of production.

If Barcelona plans to re-naturalise the metropolis towards a future self-sufficiency, internationally metropolis are starting to develop solutions for bringing production back to the urban environment.

Among them Milan, the city hosting EXPO2015.

Expo 2015, focused on food production and consumption, shows new technologies, methodologies and proposals, a box of tools that points out architects’ responsibilities in shaping new solutions and strategies for the future human urban habitat.

RESEARCH TRIP 2015 - MILAN

trip calendar 29th OCTOBER Arrival in Milan 30th OCTOBER - EXPO2015 08:30 - Meeting in EXPO2015 45.520958, 9.085503 - Fiorenza Access point Please be in time: we will join the queue at 08:40.

You can find more information about the meeting point in the next pages

31st OCTOBER - MILAN 11.30 - Meeting in VERTICAL FOREST (BOSCO VERTICALE) 45.48556, 9.19016 16.00 - Meeting in FONDAZIONE PRADA 45.444222, 9.205377

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21.30 - Meeting in DARSENA - HALLOWEEN PARTY !

45.452441, 9.180060 bring a bottle of wine / beer or what you like + halloween mask + your party mood !!

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RESEARCH TRIP 2015 - MILAN

30th OCTOBER MEETING IN EXPO The Expo Milano 2015 Exposition Site is located just north-west of Milan

BY UNDERGROUND RAILWAY (METRO)

To reach the Exposition Site by underground (metro), purchase an extra-urbano (extra-urban) ticket, and take Linea 1 (Red line 1) to Rho Fiera Milano metro station. Duomo and Cadorna are both on Line 1, where they connect to the city’s other underground lines.

Travel time to the Expo Site is expected to be about - 25 minutes from Piazza Duomo, - 20 minutes from Stazione Cadorna, - 35 minutes from Stazione Centrale, - 30 minutes from Stazione Garibaldi Exiting the Rho Fiera Milano underground station, which is close to the FIORENZA access point, visitors take the steps to the Security Plaza.

The Meeting Point for IAAC Students is in front of the security control of the the FIORENZA access h 08.30 Coordinates: 45.520958, 9.085503 at 08.30 ( please be in time). s point

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RESEARCH TRIP 2015 - MILAN

31st OCTOBER MEETING points 11.30 @ VERTICAL FOREST Coordinates: 45.48556, 9.19016 METRO STATIONS: Isola / Garibaldi FS / Gioia .

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16.00 @ PRADA FOUNDATION Coordinates: 45.444222, 9.205377 METRO STATION: Lodi TIBB

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RESEARCH TRIP 2015 - MILAN

31st OCTOBER MEETING points 21.30 @ DARSENA and NAVIGLI - Piazza XXIV Maggio Coordinates: 45.452441, 9.180060 METRO STATIONS: Porta Genova / Missori or TRAM line n째 9

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iaac research trip google my maps IAAC has provided students with a customized map for the Milan Research Trip.

It’s a useful resource to join easily the events of the trip.

It can be opened in all the browsers or with the App MYAPPS (only for Android users): just go to the link https://goo.gl/a1Xkhj or https://www.google.com/maps/d/ edit?mid=z7OLgTVYfUJ4.kFSbOaZuVYjI&usp=sharing or scan the QR CODE!

The Map is divided in three layers: EXPO sites MILAN sites MEETING POINTS Clicking on the pins, you will find useful information regarding the pavilions / site visited.

EXPO 2015

EXPO 2015 FEEDING THE PLANET ENERGY FOR LIFE The conceptual master plan for the Milan World Exposition 2015 resulted from the teamwork of five architects: Jacques Herzog, Mark Rylander, Ricky Burdett, Stefano Boeri, and William McDonough. Working with the theme “feeding the planet, energy for life”, the exposition will be a planetary botanical garden that will “feed Milan literally, spiritually and intellectually.”

The architects created the framework for the exposition and organized an orthogonal bridge that contains an agrofood park and is surrounded by water ways.

The Plan for EXPO was also a plan for the entire city of Milan, focused on generating a diffused network of farmhouses (the cascine) dedicated to leisure and food knowledge.

Architects contributing to pavilion design incudes: Foster & Partners, Herzog & De Meuron, Daniel Libeskind, EMBT Miralles Tagliabue, Wolfgang Buttress, Carlo Ratti Associati, Arthur Casas + Atelier.

Marko Brajovic, XTU Architectes + ALN Atelien Architecture, Studio Link-Arc, Klaus K. Loenhar, Nemesi studio .

Pavilions are temporary buildings often object of experimentation in terms of architectural form, building technique and technology. Many of themof them used digital and robotic fabrication techniques, shapes generated and calculated with paramentric design softwares, new technologies that transform them in responsive architectures.

foster & partners uae pavillion “The national pavilion for the United Arab Emirates occupies a large site close to the centre of the Milan Expo and is accessed via its main circulation axis, the decumanus. From here, visitors are drawn into the mouth of a canyon-like space, defined by two undulating 12-metre-high walls. Influenced by ancient planning principles, the pavilion’s interior evokes the narrow pedestrian streets and courtyards of the traditional desert city, and its contemporary reinterpretation in the sustainable Masdar masterplan. The high walls continue through the 140 metre site in a series of parallel waves, unifying the visitor spaces within a dynamic formal language designed to convey the ridges and texture of sand dunes.

A ramp leads gently upwards from the entrance towards the auditorium. Along this route, the irrigation aqueducts that have historically supported agriculture in the region are introduced in digital form. The path leads to a state-ofthe-art auditorium, contained within a drum at the heart of the site. After the screening, visitors follow a route

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through further interactive displays and digital talks, including a special exhibit celebrating Dubai as host city for the 2020 Expo. The exhibition trail culminates in a green oasis.

Conveying a unique sense of place, the landscaping around the pavilion is designed to evoke the UAE’s terrain and flora, while the texture of the walls derives from a scan of dunes. The design uses the principles of LEED with a combination of passive and active techniques. Most significantly, the building is designed to be recycled. The GRC wall panels are supported by a steel frame, which can be easily demounted and reconstructed for the pavilion’s eventual relocation in the UAE.”

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wolfgang buttress uk pavillion From archdaily.com . Under the title ‘Grown in Britain & Northern Ireland’, the UK’s response to the Milan Expo’s theme ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life’ is a 1,910 square metre Pavilion boasting an impressive design and complex structure, successfully delivered by creative construction and manufacturing company Stage One. Award-winning British talent has been selected

by UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) to conceive and build the Pavilion for the World Expo 2015 opening in Milan on the 1st of May. It is developed around the concept of the beehive and how new research and technology are helping to address food security and biodiversity.

Designed by Nottingham-based artist Wolfgang Buttress in collaboration with engineer Tristan Simmonds and Manchester-based architectural practice BDP, the immersive Pavilion has been entirely manufactured and constructed by York-based firm Stage One. Appointed as main contractor by UKTI before the design competition was awarded, Stage One was involved in the selection of the winning design, advising the judging panel on the feasibility of the shortlisted schemes.

Visitors to the Pavilion follow the dance of a bee, travelling through a series of landscapes. The experience starts with a journey through an orchard, followed by a wildflower meadow and on to an impressive centrepiece: The Hive, a 14m-cubed sculptural element that uses light and sound to simulate the activity of a real beehive.

Machined and fabricated at Stage One’s factory just outside York, the Hive is constructed from 169,300 individual aluminium components. Assembled in 32 horizontal layers, the structure comprises three main components: chords, rods and nodes.

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main body of the hive and are connected to rods measuring up to one-metre long. Semi- circular nodes located at the intersections of the overlapping chords provide connection points for the rods.

Fundamental to the Hive concept is the spherical void in the centre of the Hive, which allows people to walk inside and experience the sensory representation of the bees’ activity. The LED light fittings, embedded into the aluminium node components, glow and pulsate to represent the activity captured via an accelerometer within a real beehive located almost a thousand miles away in Nottingham The intricate structure and the logistical complexities overcome by the project’s team demonstrate Stage One’s expertise in delivering installations and pavilions for architectural, artistic and entertainment events, such as Olympic Games Ceremonies and every Serpentine Gallery Pavilion since 2009.

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daniel libeskind the wings “Tituated in the heart of the Expo in the Piazza Italia, four 10 meter-high (33 ft.) shimmering tree-like sculptures will anchor the four corners of the central square. Conceived as gates each structure’s dynamic form spiral out of the ground and spread into two branches spanning 10 meters over the square. Crafted out of brushed aluminium and fitted with innovative LED technology, the Wings will animate the public space with a constant flow of pulsating patterns and imagery related to the theme of the Expo: health, energy, sustainability and technology. London-based media agency Innovision will provide the creative content for the display surfaces.”

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Tsinghua Un. + Studio Link-Arc china pavillion From the architect. Rejecting the typical notion of a cultural pavilion as an object in a plaza, the China Pavilion is instead conceived as a field of spaces. Envisioned as a cloud hovering over a “land of hope”, the Pavilion is experienced as a series of public programs located beneath a floating roof, the unique design of which creates an iconic image for the project and a unique presence within the Expo grounds. The theme for the China Pavilion is “The Land of Hope”. The project embodies this through its undulating roof form, derived by merging the profile of a city skyline on the building’s north side with the profile of a landscape on the south side, expressing the idea that “hope” can be realized when city and nature exist in harmony.

Conceived as a timber structure that references the “raised-beam” system found in traditional Chinese architecture, the Pavilion roof also uses modern technology to create long spans appropriate to the building’s public nature. The roof is covered in shingled panels that reference traditional pottery roof construction, but are reinterpreted as large bamboo leaves that enhance the roof profile while shading the public spaces below.

Designed as layered screens, these panels add texture and depth to the Pavilion’s roof and create evocative light and transparency effects below.

Beneath the roof, the building’s ground plane is defined by a landscape of wheat (the “land of hope”) that references China’s agrarian past. This natural landscape transitions seamlessly into an LED multimedia installation in the center that forms the centerpiece of the building’s exhibition program.

The Pavilion’s full exhibition and cultural offerings are experienced as a sequence of spaces, beginning with an exterior waiting area in the landscape, leading to a themed exhibition space with interactive installations and cultural offerings 26

from different Chinese provinces. After this, visitors are guided up a gently sloped public stair to a panoramic viewing platform above the multimedia installation, after which they are guided into a multimedia space featuring a short film focusing on family reunions during China’s annual Spring Festival. This sequence concludes with visitors stepping outside the building onto a platform above the bamboo roof that enjoys expansive views of the Expo grounds.

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x-tu architects france pavillion From dezeen.com - A robot cut all the components used to build France’s Expo pavilion – a curved wooden lattice structure designed by XTU Architects to become a trellis for growing vegetables, herbs and hops (+ slideshow).

France’s national pavilion at the Milan Expo 2015 was intended to showcase the country’s innovations in timber construction, as well as to show off its national food culture in response to the central theme: Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.

To achieve this, Anouk Legendre and Nicolas Desmazières of XTU Architects created a building that can become a framework for climbing plants with edible produce. It also incorporates recesses where food products can be hung and presented.

“France symbolises a cultural wonder, industrial know-how, the good life,” said architect Legendre.

“That is what we wanted to show the world by inventing a ‘built landscape’ that all at once portrays the geographic diversity of France’s regions, its unique agricultural offerings and culinary traditions.” Glue-laminated larch and spruce were used to create a strong but lightweight structure of lattice girders and pillars.

The design team took advantage of computer modelling to maximise the efficiency of all of the wooden components, which were precisely cut using a digitally controlled robot. The elements all interlock, minimising the need for additional fixings.

The result is a boxy structure, punctuated by curved recesses that create a cavernous interior. Inside, different crops and food products are slotted in between the wooden planes to create what the architects describe as a “landscape ceiling”.

“Visitors are plunged into the upside-down world of the hilly countryside,” they said.

The rest of the interior, planned by exhibition designer Adeline Rispal, was intended to resemble a 28

typical French covered market.

Exhibition stands sit alongside real service counters, while chefs serve up regional specialities from spaces known as the “vaults of plenty”.

A mezzanine accommodates offices and VIP event spaces, while the uppermost level houses a restaurant, expected to serve vegetables grown on site using hydroponic processes and aromatic herbs planted on the terrace. ”The pavilion is granary and barn, cathedral and beehive, innovation lab and experimental hub, land of discovery and classroom all rolled into one,” added the team.

Lighting design studio Licht Kunst Licht worked with Italian brand iGuzzini to create the building’s illumination, which includes a choreographed sequence of coloured panels at the entrance.

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daniel libeskind vanke pavillion The corporate pavilion for Vanke China explores key issues related to the theme of the Expo Milano 2015, “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life�. The concept for the Vanke Pavilion incorporates three ideas drawn from Chinese culture related to food: the shi-tang, a traditional Chinese dining hall; the landscape, the fundamental element to life; and the dragon, which is metaphorically related to farming and sustenance. All three of these concepts are incorporated in the Vanke Pavilion’s exhibition, architecture and program.

Situated on the southeast edge of the Lake Arena, the 800-square meter pavilion appears to rise from the east, forming a dynamic, vertical landscape. The design features a sinuous geometrical pattern that flows between inside and outside. A grand staircase, clad in warm grey concrete, carves through the red serpentine form and guides visitors to the upper level. A roof-top observation deck with a planted garden will provide stunning views of the lake and near-by Italian pavilion.

The pavilion is clad in more than 4,000 red metalized tiles that Libeskind designed with the Italian company Casalgrande Padana. The geometric ceramic panels not only create an expressive pattern that is evocative of a dragon-like skin, but

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also possess highly sustainable self-cleaning and air purification properties. The three-dimensional surface is coated with a metallic coloration that changes as light and viewpoints shift. At times it will appear as deep crimson, then a dazzling gold, and even, at certain angles, a brilliant white. The tiles are installed with a state-of-the-art cladding support system that gives a rhythmic pattern and mathematical form to an otherwise supple, torquing shape. Two spiraling stairs, echoing the form, ascend the pavilion to the south, and to the north from the Lake Arena entrance, serving both as circulation and seating.

Inside the pavilion, visitors encounter an exhibition space filled with a constellation of 200 screens mounted to a matrix of bamboo scaffolding. The forest of screens and bamboo floats above a winding reflecting pool that borders the visitor pathway

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ARCHIban south korea pavillion This pavilion showcases the culinary practices of Korea which were founded on its indigenous traditions, highlighting their benefits and sustainable properties as well as showing how adaptable the food is for everyday life. The Korean pavilion’s theme of You Are What You Eat shows how a healthy diet can affect everything in your life, from appearance to mood, and hopes to encourage healthy eating in order to promote wellbeing as a whole.

Multimedia shows, demonstrations of processes typical to Korean cooking such as fermentation, and samples of Korea’s finest cuisine are to be found inside the pavilion, which was designed by Archiban using the delicate, simple and harmonious architectural theme of the Moon Jar, a traditional type of porcelain pot in the shape of a full moon.

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embt-benedetta tagliabue loveit/copagri PAVILLION From the architect. The project stems from the combination of two single domes of equal diameter, but different heights. The two domes together create a flexible and well-structured space that could be further subdivided in order to fit different needs of the internal spaces.

The double dome consists of an “origami” of structural glulam elements, joined by steel plates.

The dome is conceived as a variation of the vast surrounding public space: for this reason, the structures present clear permeability and full congruence with the setting. The open nature of the structure is materialized in the use of natural lighting and natural ventilation.

The structure is composed of a big three-dimensional grid that gradually transforms in woven branches, as it grows to the open top of the dome. The structural elements become architectural ones, designing both the internal and the external facades as tree branches; the empty spots of the grid enhance air and light permeability, together with visual continuity between outside and inside.

The double dome is a prefabricated structure, made of spruce glulam with zinc-coated steel joints. Numerical control machines cut the structural elements, and they can be easily assembled and dismantled in agreement with Copagri’s need of reuse after the Expo, as expressed by the project competition requirements.

The upper part of the domes, called “the hat”, can host the required building services both for the building itself and for the Lake Arena, consisting of lights, loudspeakers, antennas …An internal PVC sheet, suspended from the vertexes of the structure, covering the openings and avoiding water penetration, provides water resistance. The PVC seam follows the structural grid.

White translucent pressurized PVC cushions cover the internal space in correspondence of the central oculus: those cushions are not linked to the internal PVC sheet, guaranteeing natural ventilation through stack effect.

Natural ventilation is indeed essential: in addition to the 38

upper openings, all the perimeter of the dome is covered with a net fabric, whose zigzag pattern follows the structural grid and ensures ventilation.

The dome appears as a lighting element of the public square: the structure not only includes a self-lighting system, but also provides lighting for the surroundings: it sparkles like a glowing lantern and the light reflects on the Lake Arena water surface, amplifying the splendor of the area.The spectacular lamps, also shaped as a dome, are suspended from the PVC sheet tie-beams and dangle from the structure to light up all the elements of the internal set-up.The internal layout is organized in areas.

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CARLO RATTI ASSOCIATI FUTURE FOOD DISTRICT From the architect - Designed by Italian design firm Carlo Ratti Associati, it explores how data could change the way that we interact with the food that we eat, informing us about its origins and characteristics and promoting more informed consumption habits.

“Every product has a precise story to tell,” says Carlo Ratti, founding partner of Carlo Ratti Associati and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Today, this information reaches the consumer in a fragmented way. But in the near future, we will be able to discover everything there is to know about the apple we are looking at: the tree it grew on, the CO2 it produced, the chemical treatments it received, and its journey to the supermarket shelf.”

The Pavilion at Expo 2015 is a real Supermarket, where people can interact with – and buy – products. Its interior will resemble a sloping warehouse, with over 1500 products displayed on large interactive tables. As people browse different products, information will be visible on suspended mirrors augmented with digital information.

“It will be like seamless augmented reality, without Google Glasses or any other cumbersome interface, where people can meet and exchange products and ideas,” said Andrea Galanti, project leader at Carlo Ratti Associati. “In a way, it is like a return to the old marketplace, where producers and consumers of food saw each other and had actual interactions”.

“We were inspired by Mr. Palomar from Italo Calvino’s book of the same name, who enters a fromagerie in Paris and thinks that he’s in a museum,” adds Ratti. “ ‘Behind every cheese there is a pasture of a different green under a different sky. Mr. Palomar feels as he does in the Louvre, seeing behind every object the presence of the civilization that has given it form.’ We believe that tomorrow’s markets will make us feel a bit like Mr. Palomar.

Every product will have a story to tell.” This enhanced knowledge of products can, in turn, create new social links among people. “Think about leveraging the sharing 40

economy and peer-to-peer dynamics to create a free exchange area where everyone can be both a producer and a consumer – almost an AirBNB of home-made products,” explains Giovanni de Niederhausern, COO of Carlo Ratti Associati.

The outside of the pavilion features the world’s largest plotter. The plotter, made of mechanical arms that move along two-axes, draws on the facade using spray paint of different colors, transforming it into a dynamic data visualization fed by visitor-generated contents. Again, information flows help reconfigure space. The Plaza outside the FFD supermarket will also showcase new ways of producing food, such as vertical hydroponic systems for growing vegetables, and algae and insect harvesting. “Such advancements in urban farming could really transform underutilized urban spaces into productive areas,” adds de Niederhausern. “If urban farming manages to find its foothold in major urban centers, its effects could be disruptive, in terms of fostering new relationships between citizens and nature.”

Ratti reiterates that focus of the Pavilion is on using design to experiment with different modes of interaction.

“This project is an experiment,” concludes Ratti. “Some parts of it will be more accomplished than others.

However, our goal is to expose new forms of interaction with food to the hundreds of thousands of Expo visitors, who can in turn provide their feedback. As Alan Kay said, ‘The best way to predict the future is to invent it’; such endeavor should happen in a collaborative way.”

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ecologic studio urban algae folly From the architects - In the public square of the EXPO Milano 2015 Future Food District are on show some of the most interesting and innovative solutions of building integrated urban agriculture. The Urban Algae Folly, designed by ecoLogicStudio and located at the District’s entrance, is an interactive pavilion integrating living micro-algal cultures, a built example of architecture’s bio-digital future.

Microalgae, in this instance Spirulina, are exceptional photosynthetic machines; they contain nutrients that are fundamental to the human body, such as minerals and vegetable proteins; microalgae also oxygenate the air and can absorb CO2 from the urban atmosphere ten times more effectively than large trees.

The innovative architecture of the Alge Folly originates from the evolution of the well known ETFE architectural skin system; in this instance it has the ability to provide the ideal habitat both to stimulate Spirulina’s growth and to guarantee visitors’ comfort.

On sunny summer days the microalgae will grow rapidly thus increasing the shading potential of the architec-

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tural skin and improving human comfort; visitors, with their presence, will in turn activate the digital regulation system which will stimulate algal oxygenation, solar insolation and growth.

In any given moment the effective translucency, the color, the reflectivity, the sound and productivity of the Urban Algae Folly are the result of the symbiotic relationship of climate, microalgae, humans and digital control systems.

The visitors of the FFD are invited to interact with the Urban Algae Folly; they can join the harvest events and interact with the structure with their smart phones.

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SCHMIDHUBER+Milla+ Nussli germany pavillion From archdaily.com- “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life” is the theme for Expo 2015. The German pavilion clearly orients itself to this leitmotif – under the “Fields of Ideas” motto. Germany reveals itself as a vibrant, fertile “landscape” filled with ideas on future human nutrition. The pavilion vividly illustrates just how important dealing respectfully with nature is to our ongoing food supply, while inviting visitors to take action themselves. Visitors can discover the “Fields of Ideas” along two different routes. They can either stroll along the pavilion’s freely accessible upper level, which invites them to relax and enjoy. Or they can explore the exhibition inside the pavilion, which addresses such topics as the sources of nutrition, through to food production and consumption in the urban world.

The central design element of the pavilion are expressive membrane-covered shelters in the shape of sprouting plants: the “Idea Seedlings.”

Their construction and bionic design vocabulary are inspired by nature. The Idea Seedlings link

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the interior and exterior spaces, a blend of architecture and exhibition, and at the same time provide shade for visitors in the hot Italian summer.

By integrating cutting-edge organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology, the seedlings become Solar Trees. The German Pavilion is the first large international architecture project to use these innovative new products. In contrast with a project using conventional solar modules, the German Pavilion architects had the opportunity to do more than just incorporate existing technology. They had free rein to design the flexible, OPV membrane modules to match their own creative ideas, and to integrate them into the overall design of the pavilion.

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BDA architects austria PAVILLION From the architect.

Air as food and a catalyst for urban practices As fundamental components of the biosphere, air, climate and the atmosphere unite all living creatures on our planet. As such, air is both a source of sustenance and a natural asset.

At breathe.austria the pavilion itself is the exhibition. It functions as a prototype to address possible future interaction between the natural environment and urban strategies by demonstrating the potential of hybrid systems that integrate nature AND technology. The central element is a dense Austrian forest brought together with technical elements in order to create a breathing microclimate. With this oxygen- and carbon-producing core, the pavilion becomes an “air generating station” – and the only building on the entire EXPO site to withstand the hot Milanese summer without conventional air conditioning. For the project designers, such combinations of natural and technological systems will initiate a paradigm shift in the future. The pavilion’s entire floor area is densely planted with 12 Austrian forest ecotypes. In a natural, water-rich forest, cooling occurs through evapotranspiration, meaning the evaporation of water from flora and fauna as well as from the soil and water surface. At breathe.austria, however, the evaporative cooling process is technically augmented. While the pavilion surface area is only 560 m2, thermodynamic high- pressure misting nozzles are used to activate the total evaporation

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surface of the pavilion vegetation, amounting to around 43,000 m2. Breathe.austria succeeds in creating a unique climate zone within the pavilion: a pleasantly cool, fresh atmosphere that invites guests to linger. The effective interplay between nature and technology cools the interior space by 5 to 7° C and supplants conventional air conditioning. The pavilion produces 62.5 kg/h of oxygen – enough for 1,800 visitors. On its surface area of 560 m2, breathe.austria achieves the equivalent of a much larger, 3-hectare natural forest. The pavilion serves as a breathing “photosynthesis collector” that contributes to global oxygen production.

The contribution breathe.austria is a model for future urban practices. It demonstrates the great potential and importance of communicating the interaction of technology and natural environments, which can inspire countless other projects.

The Austrian pavilion is a sensual, experiential site that connects the seemingly irreconcilable – technology and natural diversity – while being climatically active. Austria provides a living example of hybrid systems combining nature and technology can lead to ecological success.

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HERZOG & DE MEURON slow food pavillion From the architects: “The Slow Food pavillon has been located in a very interesting place within our masterplan of the exhibition. We had indeed always seen that place, a triangular piece of land at the very eastern end of the Expo’s central boulevard, well-positioned to become one of the main public forums within our masterplan concept.

The pavilion should allow the visitors to discover the significance of agricultural and food biodiversity, to explore the variety of the products that are protagonists of biodiversity, and to become aware of the need of adopting new consumption habits.

Our architectural and curatorial proposal is based on a simple layout on tables which creates an atmosphere of refectory and market.

People can watch visual statements and read key texts about different consumption habits and their consequences for our planet, they can meet and discuss with exponents of sustainable agriculture and local food production to learn about alternative approaches, and they can smell and taste the richness of agricultural and food biodiversity.

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We designed three shacks, archaic, almost primitive wood structures that define the triangular space of an interior courtyard or market place. These shacks are long and slender buildings remindful of the Lombardian farm house the ‘Cascina’. After the Expo they will be dismounted and reassembled as garden sheds in school gardens all over Italy mentored by Slow Food with their initiative ‘Orto in condotta’ as the principal national scholastic program for alimentary and environmental education.”

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milan

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milan 2015 urban metabolism of a former industrial city The Urban structure of Milan was generated by a continuous growth during the last 100 years: the city center was surrounded by a ring of factories, industrial areas, warehouses, railways logistic and facilities.

This industrial belt loosed its identity when the city’s economy moved form production to services, with the progressive relocation of industrial production from Europe to Emergent countries in Asia and South America.

Milan’s urban metabolism is today shown by big urban projects that gave new meaning to abandoned industrial areas, logistic sites and railways facilities: big urban regeneration processes that represent today a new backbone for Milan economy and urban structure.

But, is this the only way to re-programm cities whose shape responds to economic logics that are not sustainable anymore?

Specific intervention in Milan can show us a different way to shape our cities, with less energy and a bigger multiplicator between costs and benefits: Boeri’s Vertical Forest proposes a new facade for the tower typology, made by trees on cantilevered terraces, whose life is controlled and made possible thanks to ta system of sensors and automatic actuators; Koolhaas’ Prada Foundation works on the knowledge economy to give new life in an abandoned area, supported by a controlled increase of density; the reuse of the abandoned network of farmhouses (cascine) brings back agriculture to city, enabling citizens as producers and conscious consumers.

citylife

ex fair site 52

porta nuova businnes district

FARMHOUSES network “CASCINE”

industry belt recycling

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RESEARCH TRIP 2015 - MILAN

aa.vv. porta nuova garibaldi A few minutes walk from Brera, Piazza della Scala and Castello Sforzesco, the new district wants to becomes the natural continuation of the city historical centre.

Porta Nuova has been planned to promote the concept of urban quality, restoring value to the area involved and the adjoining districts.

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RESEARCH TRIP 2015 - MILAN

stefano boeri porta nuova > vertical forest From the Architect: Vertical Forest is a model for a sustainable residential building, a project for metropolitan reforestation that contributes to the regeneration of the environment and urban biodiversity without the implication of expanding the city upon the territory. It is a model of vertical densification of nature within the city that operates in relation to policies for reforestation and naturalization of large urban and metropolitan borders. The first example of the Vertical Forest composed of two residential towers of 110 and 76 m height, will be realized in the centre of Milan, on the edge of the Isola neighbourhood, and will

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host 900 trees (each measuring 3, 6 or 9 meters tall) and over 2000 plants from a wide range of shrubs and floral plants that are distributed in relation to the façade’s position to towards the sun.

On flat land, each Vertical forest equals, in amount of trees, an area equal o 7000 m2 of forest.

In terms of urban densification the equivalent of an area of single family dwellings of nearly 75.000 m2.

The vegetal system of the Vertical Forest aids in the construction of a microclimate, produces humidity, absorbs CO2 and dust particles and produces oxygen.

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RESEARCH TRIP 2015 - MILAN

REM KOOLHAAS INdUSTRIAL BELT>PRADA FOUNDATION from the architect: It is surprising that despite the enormous expansion of art media, the number of typologies for art’s display remains limited. It seems that art’s apotheosis is unfolding in an increasingly limited repertoire of spatial conditions: the gallery (white, abstract and neutral), the industrial space (attractive because of its predictable conditions which are meant to remain neutral when juxtaposed with any artwork), the contemporary museum (a barely disguised version of the department store) and the purgatory of the art fair.

The new Prada Foundation is also projected in a former industrial complex - Largo Isarco - but one with unusually diverse environments. We plan to add three new structures that vastly extend the range of the existing facilities, and to exploit existing buildings in new ways.

Within the perimeter of the Largo Isarco complex

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exist two freestanding structures: one flat and square and the second more vertical and connected to the great hall, which is already divided in three chapels. On close inspection, the square building did not offer attractive possibilities and will be demolished, enabling the courtyard to become a significant element for open-air use. The three chapels will be used for individual installations.

The great hall, an existing building, will be adapted for curatorial ingenuity: in its basement, the Fondazione’s collection will be arranged in a hybrid of strict storage and partial display, creating ‘chambers’ where work such as a fleet of artists’ cars can be unpacked or half opened to the public. This move was inspired by the increasing sophistication of artists’ crating, suggesting a constant increase in value, mobility, and an almost militaristic need for preparedness. When displayed in its stored condition, even with a wrapping, art retains its aura.

Four ‘houses’ that face the courtyard to the north and an abandoned garden to the south will accommodate Fondazione offices and permanent galleries. The ‘Haunted House’ is an unusual vertical structure with many different rooms, and balconies that overlook the complex and the city.

It will be decorated with changing wallpapers and other devices of interior design to generate an instrument for ‘domestic’ setting for specific works.

Largo Isarco currently contains two archives: Prada’s, methodically collected in grey shelving, and that of Luna Rossa’s campaigns. They will become a fundamental part of the Fondazione’s holdings.

The major addition to Largo Isarco will be a tower.

After working initially on a storage/office tower, we propose a building that offers a catalogue of radically different architectural conditions, to be used by artists and curators.

A ‘Black Box’ will act as an autonomous cell, independent from the world - a meeting ground for art, media, technology and the public. It will also open up to animate and interact with the courtyard for open-air movies and other, yet to be imagined performances. In its default mode, it is a NASA-like control room, connected to other parts and episodes of the art system, captured and monitored in real time.

The final addition is the ‘Ideal Museum’, combining the intimate qualities of a traditional museum - a collection of rooms of various dimensions and qualities - with a large open day-lit hall for exhibitions of larger objects; both will enable the sophisticated technical controls demanded for international exchange of exhibitions.

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david chipperfield INdUSTRIAL BELT > mudec From dezeen.com David Chipperfield won a competition in 2000 to design the CittĂ delle Culture (City of Culture) complex in the former Ansaldo factory, located south-west of the city in the creative district surrounding Via Tortona.

It is the home for the Centre for Advanced Studies of Visual Art (CASVA), the Centre of Non-European Cultures and the New Archaeological Museum. The complex comprises an as-

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semblage of two, three and four-storey volumes, framing a network of courtyards and passages designed to help integrate the new structures with the surrounding industrial architecture.

The central block is a curving opaque-glass hall, creating a glowing beacon at the heart of the site.

Around this, the architects designed a series of boxy buildings, featuring a standing-seam cladding of zinc-titanium.

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RESEARCH TRIP 2015 - MILAN

libeskind / hadid / isozaki citylife - ex fair area From Libeskibnd architects In 2004 Studio Libeskind, in conjunction with Zaha Hadid Architects and Arata Isozaki & Associates, won the competition for a master plan to develop and reconnect the existing city fabric of Milan to an abandoned 61 acre site, formerly home to the Fiera Milano, the city’s historic fairgrounds.

With a high-rise complex, 25-acre park, public piazza, and subway station slated for completion in 2016, the first housing parcels have been completed by Studio Libeskind and Zaha Hadid Architects, towers and phase two of the residences are all underway.

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EDITION: Marco Ingrassia