Expo 2015 – Austria Pavilion

The Austrian pavilion of Expo 2015

BREATHE.AUSTRIA

With the 'breathe' pavilion, Austria presents its contribution on the theme “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life” at Expo Milano 2015.
'breathe' places nutrition in the foreground, as well as one of our most important resources at the center of international attention: the air.
The air quality of Austria is very high by world standards and is one of the most important characteristics of the country, but the air, climate and atmosphere also connect the entire planet. They are considered nutrients, carriers of information, producers of energy and resources.

Architecture. Building structure as landscape
The Austria Pavilion at the Milan Expo is a showcase project that combines building and environment. Through the planting of 560 square meters of forest, "breathing" creates a complex network of people, environment and climate.
  


The outer space inside
The pavilion frames a generous plant body and acts as a vase for the performance of the internal landscape. With technical assistance the framed form produces the microclimate of an Austrian forest. Wherever light enters the built structure, ecological growth and metabolism take place. The vegetation of the forest area has a leaf area of ​​about 43,200 square meters which generates 62.5 kg of oxygen per hour, sufficient to meet the demand of 1,800 people and thus contributing to the global production of oxygen. This process is technically supported by evaporative cooling, but is completely devoid of air conditioners.

See a short video about a path inside the forest ... >>

In this way it is possible to recreate a dense Austrian forest with comparatively natural measures, i.e. based on the cooling effect of the evapotranspiration of plants and forest soil. The climatic result obtained differs significantly from the air and climate encountered in Milan and becomes perceptible.

Planting 100% forest vegetation is an exemplary contribution to urban conduct, as the integral use of the landscape can provide urban life forms with enough oxygen and fresh air. This example highlights Austria's sustainable reforestation policy, but also its opposite in the worldwide decline in the number of life-giving trees.

An Open Source "air generation station"
The pavilion represents display technology and natural environments as a whole, which could inspire numerous other projects. The Austrian Pavilion creates a place that connects what seems incompatible; technology and natural diversity. Austria demonstrates that hybrid systems of nature and technology can be ecologically successful.

Client: Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economics, Austrian Federal Chamber of Economics
Project management: Rudolf Ruzicka

Project
Terrain: landscape urbanism Bda - Klaus K. Loenhart, with Agency in biosphere, Hohensinn Architektur, TU Graz - Institute for architecture and landscape, Lendlabor
Exhibition concept: Maren Richter
Climate: Transsolar Energietechnik
Vegetation: Bernhard Scharf
Structures: Engelsmann Peters Beratende Ingenieure