CLIENT: Commissioner General’s Office of Section for Italy’s participation in Expo 2020 Dubai, Adjunct Commissioner General of Section, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
ADDITIONAL FIRMS: AGMultivision, Liminae Lighting Design, P2A Design, 100km Studio, Studio FM Milano, CNR, ENI, Alessandro Camera, Italian Commissioner’s Office at Expo 2020 Dubai, the Museum of the Galleria dell’Accademia of Florence and the Ministry of Culture in partnership with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Florence
PHOTOS: Michele Nastasi
The Italy Pavilion is an all-encompassing vision for reconfigurable architecture and circular design, involving some of Italy’s most innovative companies. Overall, the pavilion features a multimedia façade made with two million recycled plastic bottles, new building materials, and an advanced system for climate mitigation that constitutes an alternative to air conditioning. Reuse is also fundamental to how the structure was conceived. Rather than the traditional approach of creating temporary pavilions that later end up in landfills, the Italy Pavilion was developed as a structure that is can transform itself over time in a sustainable fashion. For example, three hulls comprise the roof of the pavilion (and will later be used on ships that will set sail to new destinations). The hulls refer to the historical connections between the Italian and Arabian Peninsulas, hinting at the theme of the Italy Pavilion, “Beauty Connects People.”
In addition to the three boat hulls, which vary in length from 130 to 165 feet, more than 150 slender vertical steel pillars support a wave-shaped roof membrane made of ETFE pillows and a layer of perforated metal that filters sunlight. Seen from above, the hulls are painted green, white, and red, effectively creating a 22,600-square-foot Italian flag.
Inside, the pavilion has no conventional walls. Instead, a curtain made of recycled-plastic nautical ropes (which incorporate LEDs that can be lit to transform the facade into a multimedia surface) delineates the exhibition space. After entering the space via an escalator, visitors arrive on a skywalk suspended 36 feet above ground level, right below the first hull’s nave. From this panoramic point, guests can overlook the entire pavilion.
One highlight of the Italy Pavilion is the Belvedere, a round structure topped by a dome and covered in wild herbs from the Mediterranean. Here’ spirulina are cultivated by renewable-energy company TOLO Green. Nearby, the Innovation Space is dedicated to technological research, and the Second Sun and Second Moon digital installations create a crescendo of light effects closely linked to visitors’ real-time emotions. Meanwhile, the Theater of Memory showcases a 3D-printed copy of Michaelangelo’s David developed by the Museum of the Galleria dell’Accademia of Florence and the Ministry of Culture in partnership with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Florence.
A different installation entitled “Braiding the Future,” focuses on the biofixation of carbon dioxide via a 65-foot-tall cascade of luminescent vein-like tubes filled with microalgae. The spectacular display represents the technology being used to cultivate these unicellular organisms, which produce high-value compounds through the process of photosynthesis.
Additional innovations are represented throughout the pavilion itself. For example, dried coffee and orange peels were pulverized into a powder used to goat the suspended walkways. What’s more, the pavilion plays home to 160 different plant species selected by Italy’s National Research Council and botanist Flavio Pollano to represent the biodiversity and ecological beauty of the Italian and Mediterranean territories.
