Austria Pavilion brings an Alpine forest at Milano Expo

Instead of a blaze of technology, Austria Pavilion at Milan Expo 2015 recreates an Alpine oasis of freshness and pure air for thermal comfort. Designed by a team led by architect and landscape architect Prof. Klaus K. Loenhart, the pavilion presents a dense natural forest with trees, some of which are up to 12-metres high.

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The motto of the Austria Pavilion is breathe.austria. Entering in the middle of a forest, visitors can fill their lungs with fresh air and enjoy a perfectly staged experience of Nature’s beauty. Letters in the branches spell out the word BREATH and disappear until composing the word EAT that leads to the central Air Bar.

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The pavilion is a green infrastructure for thermal comfort that makes use of Nature’s intelligence. Indeed, the vegetation creates a unique micro-climate, while the photosynthesis in each leaf provides the model for the solar power used at the pavilion.

The forest, which was planted in just a few months, acts as an air generator: The trees and plants together produce enough oxygen in an hour to sustain 1,800 visitors. At the same time, they bind a total of 92 kg of carbon dioxide.

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The freshness of the environmnet is powered also by innovative technologies like silent fans and mist diffusers that irrigate and refresh at the same time. With no air-conditioning technology at all, the perceived temperature (UTC) in the climate-neutral pavilion will be some 5°C lower than in the surrounding area.

The fencing around the pavilion also contributes to the climate concept. The vegetation is surrounded by 180 metres of cross-laminated timber, which keeps the cool air inside the forest.

Austria Pavilion brings together architecture, nature and sustainable technologies. General Commissioner Josef Pröll explains: “Nowadays, buildings are the biggest consumers of energy and sources of CO₂emissions worldwide. Our pavilion is a prototype that offers visions for climate-friendly buildings for tomorrow that utilise Nature’s own capabilities”.