Natural Ventilation Sun Protection Natural Light          



YEAR
2015

LOCATION
Milan, IT  

CLIENT
EXPO 2015 Spa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PROJECT TEAM
ARCHITECTURAL CONCEPT AND DESIGN UPDATE
Design Credits
Fabrizio Leoni
Mauricio Cardenas 
Cesare Ventura

CLUSTER CONCEPT
Developed within the framework of the
Cluster International Workshop 2012
in commitment with the professors and students 
of universities from all over the world

UNIVERSITIES INVOLVED
Politecnico di Milano with
ITESM – Tecnologico de Monterrey (Mexico)
SUPSI, Lugano (Switzerland)

 

 

 

Professors
Fabrizio Leoni - Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Mauricio Cardenas – Politecnico di Milano, Studio Cardenas Conscious Design Italy
Isabella Vegni - Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana, Switzerland
Cesare Ventura - Politecnico di Milano, Italy

Engineering, structural, HVAC systems, management and construction
Moretti Spa

POLITECNICO DI MILANO
Scientificresponsible for the Cluster Project: Luisa Collina
Scientific coordinator for the Cluster Project: Davide Fassi
EXPO 2015
Thematic Space Department
Director: Matteo Gatto
Architecture coordinator: Marco Chiodi
Exhibition Design coordinator: Luca Molinari
ENGINEERING
Fiera Milano S.p.A.

 

IMG_3101.JPG ClusterCacao_Planimetria.jpg 2014_02_11_TEATRO ANATOMICO.jpg FINALE_modellino.jpg IMG_3120.JPG 2014_02_11_EVENT AREA by NIGHT.jpg IMG_3094.JPG 2014_02_11_BOULEVARD.jpg IMG_3113.JPG 2015-03 (1).jpg 2015-03-10 ClusterCacao_sezione1_mezzo_cielo-01.jpg IMG_3096.JPG DSC_0736.JPG

ClusterCacao

UNFOLDING FLAVOR
The Milan Expo 2015 Cluster dedicated to the Cocoa prod­ucts of emerging countries from Africa and Latin America depicts the mise en scène of some possible representations of processes, forms and stories associated with Cocoa. This cluster has been designed having in mind the allegoric image of the highly characterized landscape where the cocoa is actually grown: a tropical environment whose topographically complex ground is represented -in our project- by smoothly moving up and down a variety of gentle triangulated slopes. An environment featuring an invasive vegetation that vehemently emerges and strongly colonizes the space among the buildings, aggressing those buildings and compromising their static equilibrium and their geome­try. At that point the skin of the pavilions, a lightweight fabric that metaphorically protects the precious contents of Cocoa products, opens and unfolds, letting at sight the internal structures. The jungle trees, individually, in pairs or groups, are transfigured into poles or urban furniture systems, playing different roles: they define functional areas, they act as landmarks, they support the different levels of lighting or the speakers and they orient visitors into this vibrant magnificent artificial tropical jungle-plateau.

The external finish of the clusters consists of a steel structure and two different coatings : an inner and an outer one, the first is material, the second is lighter and diaphanous .
This effect is achieved through the use of two different materials: the inside is lined with wood strips of natural color, while the exterior is of technical fabric translucent.