Expo 2015 Awards: Best Small Pavilion

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Azerbaijan Pavilion
Client: The Republic of Azerbaijan
Design: AG&P; Arassociati; Fratelli&Co.; iDeas; Simmetrico Srl
Fabrication: Simmetrico Srl

PHOTOS: Fromano per Simmetrico, Dirk Vrwoerd

Expo 2015 Awards:
Best Small Pavilion

The Azerbaijan Pavilion focuses on protecting the biodiversity of the country's delicate ecosystems. The former Soviet republic encased three simulated biospheres in huge glass orbs like precious jewels over its pavilion's three floors.

The first biosphere called Cultural Crossroads includes curved totems with LEDs displaying images of the country's heritage, represented through time-lapse videos and stop-motion animation.

Inside the second sphere, The Tree of Biodiversity, a large wood and light installation creates an imposing tree whose foliage symbolizes life and prosperity. In the lower half of the tree, an installation dubbed Portraits of Azerbaijan displays more than 100 digital photos of men and women, representing a cross section of society.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID
"This is an outstanding, immersive space with exquisite architectural details and interactive elements that make it the crown jewel of small pavilions at Expo 2015."

The second floor is also home to The Symphony of Taste, a series of exhibits dedicated to the flavors of Azerbaijan. Interactive screens let guests take traditional foods such as pomegranates, sumac, and tea, and fuse traditional recipes using those ingredients with 21st century ones.

Innovation and Tradition, the third sphere, contains an upside-down tree, a metaphor for the relationship between positive changes and Azerbaijan's traditions. The diversity of the country is reflected in this immersive journey through installations, videos, and technological trappings, which allow visitors to discover the country's various treasures.

Expo 2015 Awards judges called this pavilion "absolutely magnificent," and added, "This is an outstanding, immersive space with exquisite architectural details and interactive elements that make it the crown jewel of small pavilions at Expo 2015."

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Italian Wine Pavilion

Italian Wine Pavilion
Client: Vinitaly / Verona Fiera; MIPAAF
Design: Studio Italo Rota
Fabrication: Nussli Group

PHOTOS: Nussli Group

An intoxicating journey evoking all five senses, the Italian Wine Pavilion begins with a trio of rooms, where visitors can experience the stages of the wine-making cycle, from the harvest of the grapes to their eventual pressing. In one room, minimalist animations of Aesop's "The Fox and the Grapes" frolic on replicas of Roman frescoes. Complementing the ancient friezes in another area is Caravaggio's "Bacchus," whose lascivious nymph of inebriation looks normal when viewed from the side, but stretches as if imprinted on Silly Putty when looked at head on. Further along, in a room replicating a celebrated scene in "2001," stands a gold pillar "exploding" its contents of glittering wine into the air (and standing in for the movie's iconic black slab monolith). Beyond the classical past, the pavilion looks to an unconventional future with a high-tech library of wine on its upper level, where guests can sample several of 1,300 wines, accompanied by sommeliers who narrate the story behind each glass of sparkling asti or lusty chianti.

Vanke Pavilion

Vanke Pavilion
Client: China Vanke Co.
Design: Studio Libeskind
Fabrication: Bodino Engineering Srl; CWS Soluzioni Informatiche; Nussli Group

photos: Nussli Group

Conceived by the illustrious architect Daniel Libeskind, China Vanke Co. Ltd.'s pavilion resembles a massive serpent coiled and ready to launch itself into the open sky. The pavilion for the largest residential real estate company in China is covered in 4,000 scale-like ceramic tiles whose fractal patterns cause the "skin" of the 45-pound plates to flow softly from the color of flame to shades of honey in the sun. Inside the 150-ton steel structure, guests relax on benches scattered around the room and watch any of 300 screens, mounted on poles playing short films that capture the importance of "Shitang," or dining hall, in Chinese culture. The 10-minute show begins with a calm and colorful rural environment: placid scenes of meals prepared and fields farmed. But it soon accelerates, with urban images of skyscrapers, advertising, traffic jams, and crowds, creating a dizzying disorientation whose remedy is the simple act of people sharing food in the same timeless way they have for centuries.