Milan Expo 2015: The Latest Architecture and News

Carlo Ratti Associati has released details of their schematic design for the University of Milan’s new science campus, featuring robotically-assembled brick facades, porous communal areas, and natural oases. Working in collaboration with Australian real estate group Lendlease, the “Science for Citizens” proposal will sit within a new Milan Innovation District, located on the site of Milan’s 2015 World Expo.

Located within this new district, and home to over 18,000 students and 2,000 researchers, the “Science for Citizens” proposal seeks to “put forward a vision for an open campus that becomes a testing ground for innovative education while fostering exchanges between the university and the surrounding innovation neighborhood.”

Wolfgang Buttress’ The Hive, the gold medal-winning UK Pavilion from Milan Expo 2015, is being relocated to London's famous botanic garden, Kew. The mesmerizing (and photogenic) "beehive" was designed to give visitors a glimpse into the life of a working bee; its 169,300 individual aluminium components, reaching 17-meters and fitted with hundreds of LED lights, created a multi-sensory experience that shed light on the importance of the pollinator.

"We are truly delighted to announce The Hive's move to Kew, both for its magnificent aesthetic appeal and for the resonance it has with our work – I can think of no better home for this remarkable marriage of architecture and science," Richard Deverell, director of the Kew, told Horticulture Week.

As the Milan Expo 2015 comes to a close, the winners of its best pavilions are being revealed. Wolfgang Buttress' UK Pavilion has taken top honors being named the exhibition's "Best Pavilion for Architecture & Landscape." A crowd favorite, the pavilion caught the attention of the world with it's mesmerizing (and photogenic) "beehive" made of 169,300 individual aluminium components that allowed visitors to experience the life of a bee.

With the participation of 96 pavilions from diverse countries around the world, the Expo Milan 2015 tackles one of the most pressing global issues -- alimentation -- through its theme “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.”

The Brazilian Pavilion, designed by Studio Arthur Casas and Atelier Marko Brajovic, was considered one of the most attractive pavilions by the thousands of visitors who have passed through the Expo so far. Featuring a large open space traversed by an elevated net on which visitors can walk, the pavilion is as “as porous as the Brazilian culture,” and creates a pathway above plants native to the country.

Below is a beautiful series of photographs of the pavilion taken by Fernando Guerra, a partner at Últimas Reportagens, along with his brother Sérgio Guerra.

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Mid-way through the 2015 Milan Expo, Italian photographer Lino Russo is offering the world a fresh look at the exposition with a series of abstract images that backdrops parts of the colorful pavilions with the sky.

"The subject highlights the decontextualization of places and architectural spaces in order to alter the natural structure," says Russo, referring to these images as his second "Skymetric" series. "These places considered have in common the fact to be all completely square, regular and schematic, so achieving geometric shots in a minimalist context, where the simplicity and cleanliness reign supreme." 

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The Milan City Council, in partnership with the Rete Ferroviaria Italiana Gruppo FS Italiane railway authorities, has completed the restoration of the famous Torre Arcobaleno (Rainbow Tower) at Porto Garibaldi.

Once an anonymous water reservoir in the 1960s, the tower was renovated for the 1990 World Cup as part of an initiative in Italy to “turn downtrodden public works into highly recognizable urban beacons.” At this time, the tower was a piece of the Wonderline project, which connected art and architectural initiatives to themes of color, designed to express “the desire to inhabit our planet intelligently, creating a harmony between technology, nature, innovation, and tradition.”

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Daniel Libeskind teamed up with the professionals at Immersive and Innovision to realize the four 10-meter-high, "shimmering" sculptures that are outlining the Milan Expo 2015's central square. The LED-lit aluminium structures, dubbed "the Wings," were designed to "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." They will remain on view through the duration of the Expo, which concludes October 31.

Social Cooperation Architects (SCoopA) have announced the winners of their competition centered on the theme of the 2015 Expo Milano: Feed the World. The competition collected ideas and solutions from all over the world that addressed problems such as social inequality, population growth and the scarcity of resources. Currently the winners and honorary mentions are on display at the 2015 Expo Milano. Read on for the winning proposals and their accompanying boards after the break.

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Brazilian architect Raphael França has shared with us his video featuring the Brazilian Pavilion at the Milan Expo 2015, produced in a collaboration with Japanese photographer Takeshi Miyamoto.

Internal and external images show the public interacting with the pavilion, while detail shots present the multitude of textures and materials that form the building. The juxtaposition of the moving images, along with Lívio Tragtenberg's strong soundtrack, transport the viewer to the Milan Expo and to the experience of walking on the organic surface.

The Brazilian Pavilion at the Milan Expo 2015 was designed by Studio Arthur Casas + Atelier Marko Brajovic and can be seen in more detail here.

CREDITS

Darren Bradley, an architectural photographer and Instagrammer (@modarchitecture) based in San Diego, has shared a definitive collection of photographs from the 2015 World Expo. Each pavilion in the 1.1million square metre exhibition area, located just outside of Milan, is showcasing the best of their technology which offer "a concrete answer to a vital need: being able to guarantee healthy, safe and sufficient food for everyone, while respecting the planet and its equilibrium."

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