Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a completion wherein designers across the world were invited to send in their designs for the Mexico Pavillion Expo Shanghai 2010. InterNationalDesign (IND) did not win the competition though, but its entry certainly deserves a mention. Catering to the theme of expo – “Better City better Life”, the architecture office proposed a design that incorporated more public spaces, roof covered with photovoltaic cells, garden column and modular space.
The project is the negative of a volume formed by two surfaces, i.e. the vacuum created by the apparent union between an artificial hill for public access and a series of micro umbrella. The roof behaves both like a surface that holds solar cells and a sun shield making the public space also a retreat from the sun. The Promenade, a garden space comprises of garden column, which together with the structural columns recreate a plant nursery.
The different plants that make up this beautiful botanical garden include epiphytes, hanging ferns and many more. The inner floor is left open, while multi-column system offers multiple uses. The column can be used like a lamp, system of shutters and screens or as a basis for state objects. The openness of the design is its biggest asset.
Via: Architizer