EXPO MILAN 2015A ROUGH GUIDEBY 4A AND 4B OF THE ICT COURSE

1

THE EXPOSITION SITE

This planet is double faceted: on the one hand there are people who starve to death and on the ot-

her, there are those who die from overeating or eat unhealthy food.

That is why such topics like biodiversity, new technologies, resources and so on are treated at the

Milan EXPO in that they all have to do with everybody’s everyday life.

THE THEME

2

DAVIDE PIROTTA

3

THE

MA

P

The thematic areas are physical locations that inter-

pret the main themes of the EXPO on display.

There are 5 thematic areas:

• Pavilion Zero

• Future Food District

• Children park

• Biodiversity Park

• Art&Food

THEMATIC AREAS

4 5

PAVILION ZERO

Curated by Davide Rampello and designed by Michele de Lucchi, Pavilion Zero provides an introduc-

tion to the Expo Milano 2015 Site. Pavilion Zero explains the visitors what the human race has produ-

ced, how our natural landscape has changed, and the culture and rituals of food consumption.

FUTURE FOOD DISTRICT

The Future Food District (#FFD), managed by Carlo Ratti, presents possible scenarios for the applica-

tion of new technologies to food production. It is a micro universe in which the visitor is invited to ex-

plore the different interactions between people and food.

6

CHILDREN’S PARK

The Children’s Park has been created by the Reggio Children team, an International Centre for the

protection and promotion of children’s rights and their potential. The Children’s Park is an area dedica-

ted to exploring the Expo theme through fun. Curated by Sabina Cantarelli, the park provides an area

for children, where they can play some educational games that make them learn what the main the-

me is and provides them with some interesting information. The concept is titled Ring around the pla-

net, Ring around the future, symbolizing the gesture of hugging the planet by using the children’s typi-

cal games.

BIODIVERSITY PARK

The Expo’s Biodiversity Park is the result of a partnership between: BolognaFiere and the Expo 2015

SpA., in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies, the Ministry of the

Environment, Protection of Land and Sea, and FederBio.

The Thematic Area of Expo Milano 2015 dedicated to biodiversity covers 8,500 square metres, and

includes a theatre and two Pavilions.

The goal of the biodiversity park is to focus the people’s attention on the environment.7

Arts & Foods. Rituals since 1851 is an exhibition curated by Germano Celant, held at the Triennale in

Milan under the architectural direction of Studio Italo Rota.

Visitors have the opportunity to immerse themselves in a spectacular route where works of art, dra-

wings and architectural models, films, objects, documents, books, menus, and album covers bring to

life a narrative.

The itinerary follows the topic of food through its preparation, distribution and sharing.

ART & FOOD

Some pics from the exhibition

DAVIDE PIROTTA

Clusters are one of the main innovations of EXPO 2015.

For the first time the countries are organized in collective stands

showing a common thematic identity.

CLUSTERS

8

List of Clusters:

• Rice

• Cocoa and chocolate

• Coffee

• Fruits and legumes

• Spices

• Cereals and tubers

• Bio-Mediterraneum

• Islands, sea and food

• Arid zones

MARCO WEGER

2

PAVILION REVIEWS

It is sited right in the middle of Expo's main street,

the Decumanus, between the Kinder pavilion and

the Hungarian one.

There's some sort of pure magic feeling that sur-

rounds everyone who enters the pavilion, from the

very beginning of the visit. It is the start of a jour-

ney through a British orchard and wildflower

meadow, brilliantly decorated with typical native

plant species.

Sounds and lights are in the air, on a journey that

involves each of the five senses within a powerful

and emotional experience, which continues with the stunning variety of food displayed at the restau-

rant, carefully selected by the most acclaimed chefs in the UK, and brilliantly culminates by moving

onto a 17 meter-high stylized beehive in the form of an aluminium sphere. That's when it is possible

to start feeling smaller, like a bee inside a hive.

With lots of pavilions that are on show within the Expo, it is hard for a pavilion to shine among the ot-

hers. To be honest, that's exactly what the UK succeeded at.

If there's something that came across to me immediately after I visited the pavilion that is the fact

that the UK knew its potential; they knew that, in order to make such a memorable experience en-

joyable, they needed to keep it simple (maybe too much simple at times) but still special. The fee-

ling of being surrounded by nature, among the sounds and the science behind it all offered me a

chance to live a colourful and wonderful experience, which is why I absolutely recommend seeing

this pavilion.

Like everything within the expo, the UK pavilion has some details that might go unnoticed the first

time someone sees it. First of all, people may not know that the pavilion was designed by award-win-

ning British artist Wolfgang Buttress, whose intention was showcasing the best of British business,

science and culture globally. Britain itself wanted to be identified as a hive of activity, where solu-

tions are shared with the rest of the world. Even Prince Harry, at the time he revealed the project to

the world, pretty much confirmed that the UK, with the help of ground-breaking technology, could

show how even some little beings like bees are vital to sustain and keep the whole planet alive, now

and in the future.

UK PAVILION

10

GABRIEL GARBAGNI

Palazzo Italia (Italian

Pavilion) is worth the

long queues. In fact,

the Italian pavilion is

composed of Palazzo

Italia and all the tempo-

rary structures along

the Cardo.

The superb architectu-

re is designed to create an urban forest, primitive and technologic at the same time.

One of the central themes is the Power of Beauty: panoramic projections and mirror games will im-

merse the visitors in breathless panoramas and architectural gems.

Another interesting room is the Power of the Challenge: 21 stories of farmers and craftspeople who

well represent the core of the Italian soul: our ability to give the best in the most difficult circumstan-

ces, as the challenge to make EXPO shows.

The Palazzo will be one of the few structures to outlive EXPO, and will become a technology hub

and a university site.

During its planning, the main aim was to optimize the environmental impact and energy saving.

The building has a low energy consumption, thanks to the cutting edge photovoltaic glass and the

properties of the new concrete used for the outer shell that reduce the pollutants present in the air,

the Carrara marble scraps inside the mix gives a shining aspect to the entire building.

11

PALAZZO ITALIA

MRS. MANCLOSSI

Pavilion zero is the first to

greet visitors arriving at Ex-

po Milan from the west en-

trance. Assigned to introdu-

ce the theme of “Feeding

the Planet – Energy for Li-

fe”, the pavilion tells visitors

about the wealth of aspects

inherent in this title.

It is conceived as a portion

of the earth’s crust, neatly

cut and raised as an invita-

tion to delve into our know-

ledge of the planet and its

secrets. Reproduced inside

the pavilion are ten caves in semi-darkness against which the exhibits stand out clearly. Every

area is dedicated to a different cultural product.

The rectangular pavilion occupies an area of about 10,000 square metres.

From the constructional point of view, it consists of spruce boards and partly practicable tiers, re-

sembling the schematized contours used to indicate ground reliefs.

The stratification of curves reproduces the earth’s crust, with mountains, hills and a broad central

valley. It is also host to Pangea, with multiple tables forming a puzzle-shaped combination.

Pangea is a reconstruction of what the planet might have looked like when lands, oceans, men

and nature were all one.

PAVILION ZERO

12

ANDREA ADINOLFI

The ‘Fields of Ideas’ (with yourself pointed

towards the Mediterranean Hill) is situated

beyond Piazza Italia, among the Ecuador

and Kuwait pavilions.

The visitors can explore the Fields of Ideas

in two different ways. Taking the first itinera-

ry, they can walk along the freely accessib-

le landscape level, consisting of the pavi-

lion infrastructure. There are also the Idea

Seedlings, very particular solar trees that

match the internal part and the outside.

The second itinerary guides the visitors through the thematic exhibition inside the pavilion, which

showcases the different sources of nutrition: Soil, Water, Climate and Biodiversity that is the ways to

food production and consumption in the urban world.

The visitors are invited to become active. With the ‘Seed Board’ they are given their own Field of

Ideas for exploring additional media information. The show in the German Pavilion ‘Be(e) active’ is

the big finale of the exposition. The visitors take on the role of an orchestra and experience the Ger-

man world of nutrition thanks to two bee eyes- shaped screens.

Every visitor in the queue are given an object that looks like a note pad but that actually is a

seedboard. It's a tool that can be used as a surface where texts, images and videos are shown

thanks to sensors inside the device. These sensors activate the posts inside the exposition (in the

first hall, they show how to use the seedboards).

The seedboard will be used like a musical instrument during the show ‘Be(e) Active’, when two

boys sing and play the guitar while the audience supports them using the seedboard.

I think the German pavilion is one of the most interactive in the Expo with itineraries meant to involve

anyone any age thanks to the seedboards and the final show . It also fully complies with the exposi-

tion topics by fostering concepts dealing with nutrition in the future and biodiversity conservation

highlighting the importance of climate, water, and the soil.

13

GERMAN PAVILION

MATTEO FERRARIO

It is sited right in the middle of

Expo's main street, Architectu-

rally the structure is rectangu-

lar and externally the walls are

yellow with some red lines to

recall the Spanish flag. Outsi-

de there are some purple TVs

that show some food.

Inside there is a large hall divi-

ded by a column where there

hang some paper that says

the name of some traditional

Spanish dishes and other

words related to food.

Past the column in the corridor,

the walls are full of pictures of

chefs and traditional Spanish dishes. Now there is a room where a projector shows images of spice

crops in Spain.

At the centre of the corridor there is also a yellow "cascade", probably coloured water or some kind

of oil. Then comes a room the centre of which is a table with screens where you can see videos of

chefs preparing their dishes. The following passage is a bit tight but the walls show images of far-

mers and Spanish chefs. On the ceiling bottles of oil and vinegar are suspended like a chandelier.

The next room, and the last of the pavilion is square-shaped and there are many dishes on the floor

covered by a glass and the walls that are all around are lined with mini TVs that show various ima-

ges and videos of cooks who prepare food and dishes.

14

SPAIN PAVILION

ANDREA FRITTOLI

The pavillion is placed in the area

at the far end of the EXPO, near

all the other Arabic countries.

If you look carefully you will noti-

ce that the pavillion looks exactly

like a basket, made of palm lea-

ves interwined between them.

This basket is called Jafeer. On-

ce you step into the pavillion a

few guides will welcome you in

and then lead you to the next

room. Here you will be able to

see a lot of traditional and interna-

tional dishes and a guide will ex-

plain you how some of these dis-

hes are made. They will also talk about Arabic customs when it comes to traditional food. The se-

cond part of the visit consists in some low scale models of Qatar, harbours, etc. At the end of your

tour the visotors can enjoy a video about how people got used to Qatar's high temperature ad the

absence of water.

I really enjoyed the visit to the Qatar's pavillion because it really focused on food unlike most of the

pavilions at the exposition and there was a guide with the task of explaining us what we were loo-

king at instead of having some notes to read placed all around the place. The video they showed in

the end was really interesting. In Qatar there is a pretty complex tea ceremony. When someone of-

fers you a cup of tea you have to start drinking it with your right hand. When you are finished you ha-

ve two options: put down your cup or shake it in the air. In the first case you will have to drink some

more tea; in the second one you will not.

QATAR PAVILION

15

VARUN SINGH

This pavilion is near the pavilion

of Thailand. Its architecture is de-

signed to create a balance

between green spaces and buil-

dings. It has a structure with a

spiral shape, created from reu-

sable and recyclable materials.

The pavilion offers a sensory jour-

ney through its different theme

areas. The central axis of the spi-

ral is the audiovisual area loca-

ted on the first floor. In a short

film is projected on screens held

by robotic arms that surround the

audience. To get there the visitor

has to walk through a sound

ramp, where to experience di-

stinct soundscapes typical of the

country, from its fields to the sea

and carnivals. The pavilion also includes a dining experience that offers specialties from Uruguay.

The first thing you think when you look outside the pavilion is the country’s evolution and growth.

When you look at the building in a spiral shape you remain amazed by so much inventiveness and

remain enchanted.

As you step into the hall, the sounds of the sea cradle your ears and invite you to continue your jour-

ney. This is followed by sounds of carnival celebrations that lighten your mind, make you calmer. Im-

mediately you understand how beautiful it is for the Uruguayans to live.

The short film, then, is something special: you are shown their past and their present. They make

you think that without such simple things as the wind or the earth you cannot grow, because though

simple, they are very important.

Uruguay intends to contribute to the global discussion "Feeding the planet. Energy for Life". Its com-

mitment to equity, human development, renewable energy and agricultural production shows a cle-

ver way of thinking about development in favour of happiness and growth.

With the motto "Life is growing in Uruguay", the pavilion has the characteristics and qualities that ma-

ke the country famous for the quality of life, the importance of resources and energy, in addition to

the origin and quality of the food.

Here you can eat the best meat at the Expo, and this explains the queues standing at the restau-

rant.

16

URUGUAY PAVILION

GIORGIA DE MICHELI

xvii

ENJOY YOUR VISIT :)

© I.I.S. Galileo Galilei Crema 2015

CREDITS

xviii

Contents: 4IA & 4IB

Post production & editing: Andrea Adinolfi, Davide Pirotta, Marco Weger

Andrea Adinolfi, Davide Pirotta, Marco Weger

xix