International news

Expo Milano 2015 - Feed the Planet, Energy for Life

Renowned for its culinary culture, Italy is gearing up to host the 184-day Expo Milano 2015 World Expo from 1 May to 31 October. After the Better City - Better Life exhibition five years ago in Shanghai, this year's edition focuses on the theme Feed the Planet, Energy for Life.

Visitors to the exhibition will be involved in themed trails, where they can explore trends in food, agriculture or biodiversity, see and taste products from all over the world in a single "garden" involving all aspects of a project on such a scale: sustainability, use of solar energy, water, biodegradable materials.

The concept for the exhibition masterplan is the result of collaboration between Stefano Boeri, Jacques Herzog, Mark Rylander, Ricky Burdett and William McDonough. Situated between the Fiera di Milano trade fair complex, defined by the structure designed by Massimiliano Fuksas, and one of the city's cemeteries, the project finds its starting point in the disposition of the axes of the two neighbors - the commercial and the silent. The two axes converging towards the city centre are joined by the main exhibition artery, which determines the layout of the pavilions and exhibition spaces along a system of orthogonal cardo and decumanus routes, representing the simplest form of city organization. Shaded entirely in white canvas, the main artery is intended to reproduce the Italian atmosphere and the specific character of urban commercial markets. Life is brought to the street through the succession of places to rest and taste, restaurants and small-scale gardens. The extreme points of the artery are marked by two open-air amphitheaters and a verdant hillside. The entire site is surrounded by a navigable canal inspired by the existing system of canals in the Lombardy countryside, which will be renovated and included in a tourist trail during the exhibition. The site's perimeter water mirror enters the orthogonal network through an artificial lake on which a performance structure with a central stage is located.

Romania will be represented at this exhibition by the pavilion designed by arch. Radu Teacă, which has been conceived as "one of the solutions for the coexistence of third millennium technology and a type of urban life with nature and the garden, still so present in Romanian civilization" (www.raduteaca.ro)