The greenest pavilions at Expo awarded. From Mexico to Chile, from Coca-Cola to Coop
Environment — di Rudi Bressa
Design, materials, renewable energy. The challenge of Expo Milan 2015 was to reduce environmental impact. Here is who was recognised.
The greenest pavilions at Expo awarded. From Mexico to Chile, from Coca-Cola to Coop
Design, materials, renewable energy. The challenge of Expo Milan 2015 was to reduce environmental impact. Here is who was recognised.
Expo Milan 2015 will leave behind a whole series of initiatives, challenges and good practices capable of reducing the environmental impact of the entire Exhibition. A model for future organising bodies that will have to manage the next "major events".
End-of-life destination for the pavilions, materials used, energy consumed. With this in mind, right at the start of the Universal Exhibition, "Towards a Sustainable Expo" was launched — a kind of competition designed to make tangible the initiatives aimed at improving energy and water efficiency, using renewable sources, employing recyclable materials, and developing reuse projects for the pavilions.
"We published several Guidelines to steer decisions during the design and construction phase of the pavilions and also during the procurement of goods and services needed for an exhibition dedicated to food and sustainability," explains Gloria Zavatta, sustainability manager of Expo Milan 2015. "It was a great deal of work to ensure they were understood and applied. A lot of effort went into dialogue, to raise awareness."
So the Mexico pavilion was recognised back in June for its sustainable architecture, thanks to the triple membrane covering the entire surface of the pavilion, which makes the most of natural light and thereby reduces electricity consumption.
Chile, meanwhile, scooped the most prizes, winning three categories, having "distinguished itself through the use of FSC-certified timber, the offering of organic food and products made by small local producers, and CO2 offsetting".
The Coca-Cola pavilion won two prizes: one in the sustainable architecture category, thanks to the solutions adopted — no air conditioning, for instance, but a system that uses a water wall to regulate the internal temperature — and in particular to the pavilion's second life, which will become a basketball court donated to the city of Milan. The other prize related to the fit-out, the packaging used and the merchandising products on offer, all linked to cooperation and sustainability projects.
Naturally, Coop's Future Food District is among the pavilions to win in the category dedicated to food sustainability, thanks to the examples it put forward of alternative agriculture capable of increasing cultivable surface area and reducing water consumption, to its various educational initiatives, and to an innovative information system about products.
With just a few weeks to go until the close of Expo Milan 2015, it is time to take stock. And beyond all the criticism — more or less constructive — it is fair to say that many of these initiatives and solutions can be considered a success.