area 110 | expo 2010 shanghai

architect: mOa

location: expo 2010 shanghai - zone E

year: 2010

The project for the Pavilions for the Shanghai World Expo 2010 B2 and C1 aims to recover and enhance the existing industrial pavilions, maintaining their structure and adapting it to new functions. The original design of the pavilions is therefore preserved, its salient features highlighted and critical points resolved. The exhibition spaces, areas of connection and open spaces form a single spatial system which, although being articulated on various levels, has no vertical barriers or obstacles, and is distinguished by permeable spaces and by easy access to the complex.
The project, ever attentive to criteria of feasibility and energy efficiency, develops around several cardinal points: maintaining the original form and creating a recognisable, aesthetic and functional cladding which accentuates its identity; environmental sustainability and the optimisation of plants and installations; integration with the context, achieved through the design of a new service building, powerfully related to the square and pavilions in front; the functional and distributive flexibility, put into practice through the new logistics centre; accessibility, made possible by fluid walkways.
The project
The industrial element, custodian of the memory of the place, becomes thus a moment for an interesting creative opportunity. It is enriched and reinterpreted through an outer shell, made of large terracotta slabs which uniformly wrap the façades, leaving any openings visible. The Cottostone, in other words, recomposed terracotta, used to make these 120 x 120 cm slabs, is produced from a special mix of crushed terracotta bound with resins and natural quartzes, which make it particularly resistant and an effective insulator. This technique is an absolute Italian novelty and, at the same time, revives the ancient tradition of “cocciopesto” (crushed terracotta) found in the houses of Pompeii and in many early Christian basilicas. Inspired also by the ceramics of Vietri, mOa studied every single decoration of the slabs, creating a well-balanced alternation of mass and void. Inside the pavilions, a new element was created to accommodate the washrooms and internal exhibition spaces. This new reinforced concrete structure, projecting onto the square, deliberately creates a rupture with the stylistic language of the pavilions and retraces the powerful imprint of the new C1 building, dialoguing with it in terms of structure, materials and aesthetics.
The newly built C1 building accommodates the services for the entire UBPA area, proposing itself, in terms of form and articulation, as an extension of the square in front, and creating a powerful internal-external rapport among the pavilions and the space opposite. Designed to be integrated with the existing buildings and surrounding spaces, the C1 building is linked to the exhibition pavilions via internal paths and flights of steps, which lead the visitor across a suspended walkway, placed between the perforated terracotta cladding and original industrial structure. A walkway is therefore created, that may be used in all seasons, leading directly inside the exhibition area, in this way totally integrating the external square with the internal area of the pavilions.
Plants and solutions for energy efficiency
The various solutions in terms of design were studied to guarantee the sustainability of energy and respect for the environment, optimising the various systems, including lighting, and natural air-conditioning. The main feature of the pavilions is undoubtedly represented by the outer shell in Cottostone, which marries up the requirements of air-conditioning during trade fairs, with architectural choices. Becoming an integral part of the wall package, the curtain wall is placed upon the existing wall, improving its hygrothermometric characteristics. All solutions to make the architectural complex efficient from an energy-saving point of view, derive from an accurate study of its orientation and placing into the context. The bands of the South-facing elevation have not been clad in cottostone and are protected by an insulator and a radiant barrier. The same wall, in perforated terracotta, assisted by a low-consumption lighting system, becomes an important screening element. The panels, thanks to the alternation of mass and void, have the possibility of filtering sun rays, through the simple yet effective use of natural light. All the openings, exposed to direct sunlight, are protected by technological elements which block out direct light. On the North-facing roof pitches there are transparent slots to improve indirect natural light inside the exhibition space. The lighting project is tasteful and unmistakeably Italian, thanks to the design of Francesca Storaro and the skill of iGuzzini.

Mario Occhiuto (1964) graduated in architecture in 1987. His activity includes architectural projects and urban planning, up to detail and interior design. His works are anchored to the design‘s aesthetics combined with functional utility, cultural identity, innovation and sustainability considered to be the answer to the need for quality in the contemporary design.
He also is involved in Cultural Heritage, especially the debate on conservation and landscape improvement, as the expression of cultural and social identity in any context.
He was curator of the exhibit ‘Italian Visions‘ in the city of Beijing, within the Sino-Italy program for Environmental Cooperation, under the supervision of the Italian Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, in cooperation with the contribution of the Domus magazine (Issue 894, July/August 2006), of the Milano Triennale Foundation and the Industrial Design Association (ADI). He also was curator of the exhibition ”Sustainable Cities in Italian Style” inside the pavilions of the Shanghai World Expo 2010.