Milan Expo 2015

© Herzog & de Meuron

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.

More about the new concept after the break.

The idea for this planetary botanical garden is based on the Ancient Roman urban plans that included twin axes (the cardo and the decumanus) with a central forum.  The two axis create a grid of spaces where some will be developed by the exposition, and other spaces will be give to individual countries to design.

In the new plan, the first axis includes a 1.4 kilometres long boulevard where visitors can walk or bicycle, and a second axis that will reflect the geometries of the surrounding farmlands. In place of a forum, a large planetary table will allow people to rest, while looking at the pavilion and sampling the food produced and offered by the different countries represented.

The five architects also rethought the water ways “to focus attention and resources on the reclamation and redevelopment of public and municipal farmsteads.”  The network of canals that run through the countryside will extend the living energy of the expo site to areas beyond its immediate boundaries.

credits:
conceptual master plan – feeding the planet, energy for life
by herzog & de meuron, jacques herzog
london school of ecomics, ricky burdett
stefano boeri architetti, stefano boeri
william mcdonough + partners, william mcdonough