EXPO GATE

DETAILS

Name: EXPO GATE
Location: Milan, Italy
Year: 2013-2015
Typology: Exhibition
Surface: 7.456 sqm
Credits: Scandurra Studio, COPRAT, Redesco Structural Engineering, Ing. Nicola Bianchi,
Client: Triennale di Milano Servizi S.r.l.

Before the grand opening of Milan’s Universal Exposition in 2015, Expo Gate represented an ideal opportunity to discuss growth and evolution within the city. A finalist for the Fundació Mies van der Rohe Award 2015, the project was conceived as a dynamic structure in continuous transformation: two pavilions recalling the historic tollhouses that once flanked city gates, with a central open space designed to host various events. Expo Gate is the result of a combination of simple elements: a square and two pavilions that define a piece of the city. The twin, pyramid-sectioned pavilions, made of steel and glass, possess a light and transparent nature, framing the Castello Sforzesco and serving as both a physical and digital gateway to Expo. The square and twin pavilions create an urban system, a stage for public events and everyday city life.

The project proposes an open plate characterised by a central square and two lateral pavilions. The work intends to confirm the 19th-century urban layout and clearly recall the punctiform system of small monumental architectures that from Piazza Duomo develop along Via Dante to the Castle and around Parco Sempione, which has always had an exhibition vocation.

The Info Point, an expression of lightness, is a showcase for the events planned, without becoming the protagonist itself. The structures outside are designed as a backstage to accommodate different types of communication and images. Banners, flags and illuminated graphics can be replaced from time to time and changed as required.