France has presented its design for Expo Milano 2015 in Milan—its representative building will be covered in gardens on the outside, from which food will be harvested and served inside. Designed by XTU architects, the pavilion was made based on the expo's theme: "Feeding the Planet. Energy for Life."
The pavilion will have an undulating interior meant to evoke the rolling hills of France, albeit an upside-down version, Dezeen reports. Through the use of digital fabrication techniques, layers of timber will give the building its unique ridged structure. The plan is for vines to grow through the gaps in the latticed wood.
Food from the building’s exterior—specifically, vegetables, hops, and herbs—will be harvested daily and cooked using hydroponic processes in the pavilion’s restaurant. In addition to the restaurant, an exhibition on France’s food production will inhabit the interior.
XTU said in a statement: “On the facades, we grow hops, on the terrace aromatic herbs, and in the restaurant, vegetables to be eaten on the spot. Hydroponic production that depicts the French innovation in partnership with the world leader of the sector! It is the image of a "fertile market", in direct production-consumption system. And at the end, there will be a great event for the harvesting of hops.”
In order for the pavilion will go up in time for the expo, it’s scheduled to be built in May 2015. France is one of 144 nations participating in World Expo 2015, which will run from May to October of next year.
Related Stories
| Jul 22, 2013
Cultural Facility Report [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Building Design+Construction's rankings of design and construction firms with the most revenue from cultural facility projects, as reported in the 2013 Giants 300 Report.
| Jul 19, 2013
Reconstruction Sector Construction Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Structure Tone, DPR, Gilbane top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest reconstruction contractor and construction management firms in the U.S.
| Jul 19, 2013
Reconstruction Sector Engineering Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
URS, STV, Wiss Janney Elstner top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest reconstruction engineering and engineering/architecture firms in the U.S.
| Jul 19, 2013
Reconstruction Sector Architecture Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Stantec, HOK, HDR top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest reconstruction architecture and architecture/engineering firms in the U.S.
| Jul 19, 2013
Renovation, adaptive reuse stay strong, providing fertile ground for growth [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Increasingly, owners recognize that existing buildings represent a considerable resource in embodied energy, which can often be leveraged for lower front-end costs and a faster turnaround than new construction.
| Jul 19, 2013
Must see: 220 years of development on Capitol Hill in one snazzy 3D flyover video
The Architect of the Capitol this week released a dramatic video timeline of 220 years of building development on Capitol Hill.
| Jul 18, 2013
LEGO takes on the iconic Sydney Opera House
This September, LEGO will expand its LEGO Creator Expert series with a 2,989-brick model of the iconic Sydney Opera House.
| Jul 18, 2013
Koolhaas plan selected for Miami Beach Convention Center redevelopment [slideshow]
The master plan by OMA's Rem Koolhaas and Shohei Shigematsu beat out a submission by Danish studio Bjarke Ingels Group for the massive redo of the Miami Beach Convention Center.
| Jul 15, 2013
Innovative Swallows Nest cultural center in Taiwan aims for zero carbon emission
The Swallows Nest cultural center in Taichung, Taiwan, employs bioclimatic architectural elements and complex geometry with a goal of being a zero carbon emission structure.
| Jul 2, 2013
LEED v4 gets green light, will launch this fall
The U.S. Green Building Council membership has voted to adopt LEED v4, the next update to the world’s premier green building rating system.
