Expo: Azerbaijan Pavilion

The concept behind the design of the Azerbaijan pavilion, designed by Simmetrico for the Republic of Azerbaijan, represents architecture as positive energy and proactivity, seeking to harmonize and protect differences.

Its iconic architectural components, the biospheres and the undulating walls, have been designed to represent natural and cultural metaphors. The biospheres are a metaphor for a country where different elements coexist in perfect equilibrium, giving rise to growth and development. The louver, a wooden “skin” cladding the long sides of the pavilion like a protective shell, speaks to the metaphor of the wind, a characteristic element of the country, embracing and protecting Azerbaijan and representing the cultural fluxes that they have always experienced.

The pavilion is composed of modern and simple architectural forms, built using traditional Azerbaijani materials, for example wood used innovatively, combined with universal materials such as glass and metal. The design was conceived so construction meets optimal standards of bioconstruction, making use of low energy consumption and fully recyclable technologies and materials in the production phase. All components were chosen to provide assurance at the construction stage and quick completion times.
The building systems utilized promote the idea of complete eco-sustainability, made possible by adapting to the biodiversity and the needs of a given location. Every part of the process is moreover inclined towards generating environmental wellbeing that is both tangible and functional: it is the creation of a better human habitat, in close synergy with nature and places of origin. In addition to spatial variety, light and transparency are the principle choices upon which the architecture of the pavilion is based.

These choices ensure the design is of the exceptional nature required for the theme of the event, while at the same time permitting architectural forms that help the building to be energy efficient. The louver, the pavilion’s “skin”, built with supple wooden plates, envelops the sides of the building, leaving only the northern facade open, thus bringing about passive control of the microclimate that maximizes the energy exchange between the building and the exterior. The pavilion therefore features construction techniques and materials that support the choices made in terms of plant and equipment (see the technical data sheet listing the contents of the design), seeking maximum flexibility of the space in terms of its distribution and its form. The various possibilities of how the pavilion may be fitted out make it capable of being adapted and remaining functional over time. The vertical structures and the floors and roof are to be built using wood and iron, whereas for the infill façade doors and windows in metal and transparent glass, masked by the continuous laminated louver in stabilized wood, have been chosen. All the internal flooring will be laid in LEED-certified gres ceramic tiles, whereas the exterior spaces will be paved using natural stone.

Azerbaijan Pavilion, Azerbaijan, Treasure of Biodiversity, Expo Milano 2015
Client: Republic of Azerbaijan
Overall creative and project supervising: Simmetrico
Creative director: Daniele Zambelli
Architecture: Arassociati
Landscape architect: AG&P
Structural and MEP engineer: Ideas
Cladding: Facades and spheres – People and Project
Light design: Voltaire Design
Construction and project management: Simmetrico
Project manager: Riccardo Cigolotti
Contents research and development: Simmetrico
Contents manager: Marta Marchesi
Cultural communications: Elena Croci
Set up project manager: Francesco Salvatore, Design Direct
Installation design: Fratelli&co.
Graphics: Iriden srl
Technical development: Black Engineering
Video contents: Bonsaininja – Dadomani
Steel structures: Speirani
Building site set up: Edil Lombarda
Exhibit set up: Interfiere
Interior construction: Esseci
Lightning: Marco Rocca Agency
Screeds: Laterlite
Elevators & Escalators: Kone
Green set up: Agripanda Srl
Wooden exhibits: Simonin
MEP: Bilfinger VM impianti
External flooring: Sirtech Srl
Gres tile flooring: Florim Special electrical systems: Vimar
Bathroom furnishings: Zucchetti