Fields of Ideas
EXPO 2015 in Milan showcases the theme “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”, offering answers to the major future challenges of human nutrition. In the context of a conceptual master plan, this world exhibition introduces a clear paradigm shift by dispensing with prestigious monumental buildings, and by presenting itself rather as a “sustainable AgroFood Park”.
Fields of ideas
freely accessible wooden deck
The German pavilion translates the German field and meadow landscape into its architecture in a striking and surprising way: a building consisting of a gently sloping landscape level with a freely accessible surface and a thematic exhibition inside.
Formally, the architecture is reminiscent of a “supplanted landscape” set in the pavilion’s premises which gradually slopes upward to a height of 10 meters. The German pavilion then applies the concept of stylised fields and meadows in great detail. The use of different native woods, with varied grains and tones, creates a highly distinctive design.
dovetailing Architecture and Exhibition
In this landscape, with clearly discernible fields, stylised plants grow as "idea seedlings" up from the exhibition to the exterior surface, creating a large, protective canopy. These are the connecting elements, dovetailing the exterior and interior, the architecture and the exhibition itself. The unusual, organic flowing lines express pioneering innovations inspired by nature.
The Solar Trees
Thanks to integration of the pioneering organic photovoltaic technology (OPV), the energy-producing “solar trees” were created from the “idea seedlings”.
The German Pavilion is the first large international architecture project, in which the innovative products are used. Unlike conventional solar modules, the German Pavilion architectures had the possibility to use not only an existing technology here, but to design the flexible, leaf-integrated OPV modules to their optical appearance based on their own ideas, and to integrate them into the whole design of the pavilion.
a place to relax
On the landscape level, the visitor embarks on a pleasurable and stimulating journey marked by exciting perspectives onto the textile leaf canopy – an intriguing interplay of light and shade, of relaxation and discovery. This is where visitors are offered the first “teasers” – from above down through the planting “holes” right into the heart of the exhibition.
The highest point of the open visitor route offers an impressive panoramic view of the pavilion, the vibrant visitor activities taking place below, and the sweeping EXPO grounds all the way down to the EXPO lake.
International visitors
