机械化：美国馆

建筑设计：比贝尔建筑师事务所

Architects: Biber Architects

机械化：美国馆

Mechanization: USA Pavilion

建筑设计：比贝尔建筑师事务所

Architects: Biber Architects

1-3 外景/Exterior views

在2015年10月的米兰世博会上，美国馆以“美国食物2.0：联合供养地球”的主题呈现。场馆由来自纽约、屡获殊荣的比贝尔建筑师事务所设计，是一个开放、通风、如同谷仓一般的构造物，其中嵌入了各种生态元素——包括一个能收获的垂直农场，以及宽阔的木栈道和长列的餐车等极具美国特色的构件。

与近来的博览会中多见的封闭箱体式建筑不同，2015世博会的美国馆是开放、透明、平易近人的，并且在其中各处都体现了美国文化。建筑既是承载内部展览内容的平台，自身也成为了展览的一部分。按比贝尔建筑事务所的创始人和主席詹姆斯·比贝尔所说，“场馆自身就是各种理念的展示架，体现了我们对于博览会展馆和美国在食物产业地位的反思。”

在展馆的一侧，游客们将看到隐喻美国国旗的、由穿孔铝板组成的红、白、蓝三色的立面。而在主要人行出入口的一端，像飞机库门一样大小的入口大门敞开着，呈现出另一具有美国特色、且与食物相关的意向——木栈道。此处使用了科尼岛木栈道的废木料，从首层一直延续到二层，形成引导自主参观的主路线，另一处展览空间则藏在其下方。顶层的屋顶露台有可调节的玻璃遮阳板上盖，可以供喜欢天台的意大利人在夜间举办聚会，同时也可以用于招待贵宾和外交官。

而场馆最主要的建筑特征是有一个足球场大小、覆盖了建筑一侧立面的机械化的垂直农场。为了用一个放倒的农场在垂直立面上进行教育性的展示，建筑师选用了由美国农业技术的新兴公司Bright Agrotech发明的ZipGrow种植塔技术，组成共650m2的水培植栽立面。立面由回收的汽水瓶做成的4个模块组成，里面种植了包括绿色蔬菜、水果类蔬菜、谷物和香草在内的42种作物。这些作物被种在土壤槽中，并配有滴灌系统，在展览会期间每两周收获一次。□（司马蕾 译）

项目信息/Credits and Data

建筑设计/Architect: Biber Architects

景观设计/Landscape Architect: dlandstudio

建筑设计合作/Local Architectural Partner: Genius Loci Architettura结构工程师/Structural Engineer: SCE Projects

ZipGrow 塔系统/ZipGrow Tower System: Bright Agrotech

总承包/General Contractor: Nussli Italia

机械构件/Motor Components: Lanaro, Italian steel fabricator电力承包/Electrical Contractor: Milani

控制系统/Control Systems: General Electric

景观及灌溉承包/Landscape and Irrigation Contractor: Peverelli栽培和温室/Cultivation and Greenhouses: Floricoltura Pironi植物种子/Plant Seeds: Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

工程/Engineering: ESA Engineering

照明设计/Lighting Design: Tillotson Design Associates

平面设计/Graphic Design: Pentagram

完工时间/Completed: 2015.05

摄影/Photos: Saverio Lombardi Vallauri

The United States presents "American Food 2.0: United to Feed the Planet" at Expo Milano, from May through October 2015. Designed by the New York-based, award-winning firm, Biber Architects, the pavilion features an open, airy, barn-inspired structure with ecological elements including a harvestable vertical farm and uniquely American features such as an expansive boardwalk and a series of food trucks.

Designed in response to the closed box architecture of recent Expos, the 2015 USA Pavilion is characterized by openness, transparency and accessibility with myriad references to American culture. It is as much a platform for the content embodied in its exhibitions, as it is an exhibit in its own right. According to James Biber, founder and principal of Biber Architects, "The pavilion itself is a scaffolding for ideas, a rethinking of the nature of the Expo pavilion and of America as a force in the food world."

On one side of the pavilion, visitors are greeted by a subtle reference to Old Glory with a perforated aluminum façade of red, white and blue. On the main pedestrian approach, the pavilion opens its airplane hangar-sized door to another distinctly American, food-related image: the boardwalk. Made of salvaged lumber from the Coney Island boardwalk, the walkway rises from the ground level to the second floor, serving as the main forum for self-guided viewing and concealing a defined exhibition space below. On the top floor, a rooftop terrace featuring dimmable glass shade panels will host nightly parties for the rooftop-craving Italian crowds while also catering to VIPs and diplomats.

The main architectural feature is a motorized vertical farm – the length of a football field – flanking one side of the pavilion. Conceived as a farm field tipped vertically to act as a didactic display, the architects chose ZipGrow Towers, developed by American agricultural technology start-up Bright Agrotech, to outfit the 7,000-square-foot hydroponic facade. Using 4' modules made of recycled soda bottles, 42 varieties of crops including green vegetables, fruiting vegetables, grains and herbs will be sustained in soil plugs and a drip irrigation system and harvested every two weeks during the Exposition.□

4-6 外景/Exterior views

7 草图/Sketch

8 首层平面/Floor 0 plan

9 二层平面/Floor 1 plan

10 三层平面/Floor 2 plan

11 四层平面/Floor 3 plan

12 五层平面/Floor 4 plan

13 内景/Interior view

WA：美国馆的设计是如何呼应米兰世博会“滋养地球”这一主题的？

詹姆斯·比贝尔：2015米兰世博会的美国馆展示了美国在未来食物供应中的特殊地位，并承载了对在2050年前供养90亿人口这一挑战的全球性讨论。“美国食物2.0：联合供养地球”通过不同的主题描绘了关于创新、多元化和创业的美国食物的故事，这些主题包括了食物安全与政策、国际关系、科技发展、营养与健康、饮食文化等等。

在一栋建筑中表现一个国家是个艰巨的任务。为了呼应我们国家的特色和世博会的主题，我们的美国馆设计集合了创意、标志性的形象、华丽的装饰和丰富的信息，构成寓意了农业建筑和农场机械的动态建筑。谷仓原本就象征着社区与交流，在这里则成为了人们讨论未来的论坛和展示创意的展台。

WA：场馆项目中最具创造性和吸引力的构造设计是什么？

比贝尔：垂直农场构成的立面是美国馆的三大建筑特色之一。这是由dlandstudio设计的一种农作物景观，覆盖了展馆最长的一个公共立面。我们力图创造出鲜活、能呼吸、高透气的立面，并最终实现了这一系统。系统由83块电动格栅组成，每块板高4m，宽1.3m，上面装着18个1m高的混合水培ZipGrowTM植物塔模块，种植了共42种不同的可食用的美国蔬菜品种。这10,000多株植物以几乎恒定的速度向着太阳方向转动，波浪形的运动让人联想起风吹过麦田的景象或是鱼鳃的样子。

垂直农场立面让建筑能呈现开放和通透的姿态，也为内部空间创造了一层柔软的绿色遮阳层。农场也是场馆的主要展品之一，展示了美国研发的水培系统、美国的作物和保有的植物的多样性，以及一个丰茂的蔬菜农场中的光影甚至气味，而这些又一起构成建筑的外壳。被吸引而来的蝴蝶、蜜蜂甚至螳螂也丰富了场馆的生态系统。这层外墙让空气在此冷却、净化、祛味，覆盖的植物则过滤了光线、使之形成斑纹，色彩和体积不停改变的植物也让墙体呈现不断变化的风貌。农场不停地运作着，灌溉、移动和展示作物的场景也成为了500万场馆参观者和更多经过建筑立面的人眼中的奇观。

WA：场馆的建造过程中最为困难的部分是什么？

比贝尔：美国馆是世博会的国家馆中唯一由民间企业而不是它代表的国家资助的场馆。因此场馆建设中最大的挑战是在很短的规定时间中集齐所需资源、资金和各项支持，并按照有限的经费打造具有深度的、优秀的建筑体验，并保证整个场馆可以在世博会结束后具有二次生命——能被再利用、再组装和回收再用。□（司马蕾 译）

14 内景/Interior view

15 屋顶露台/Roof terrace

WA：How does your pavilion design respond to the theme of Expo - Feeding the Planet?

James Biber (JB): The USA Pavilion for Expo Milano 2015 showcases America's unique role in the future of food and hosts a global conversation about the challenge of feeding more than 9 billion people by 2050. "American Food 2.0: United to Feed the Planet," tells America's food story – one of innovation, diversity and entrepreneurship –through topics including food security and policy, international relations, science and technology, nutrition and health, and culinary culture.

Defining an entire nation in a single building is a daunting task. In response to the identity of our nation and to the theme of the Expo, our USA Pavilion design is an amalgam of innovation, iconic imagery, pageant and information, composed as a kinetic construction referencing agricultural buildings and farm machinery. The barn, an icon for community and conversation, is intended to be a forum for discussion about the future, and a scaffold for ideas.

WA：What is the most creative and attractive tectonic design in your pavilion project?

JB: One of the three main architectonic features of the USA Pavilion, the Vertical Farm facade, with a landscape of crops designed by dlandstudio, lines the longest public facade of the pavilion. We strove for a living, breathing and highly porous facade and invented the system now in place. Composed of 83 motorized louvers, each 4 meters high by 1.3 meter wide, the panels are populated with 18, 1-metertall hybrid-hydroponic ZipGrowTMtower modules growing 42 varieties of edible American vegetables.These 10,000 plants are in nearly constant motion pivoting toward the sun in wave motion reminiscent of the wind across a field of wheat, or gills.

The Vertical Farm facade allows the building to remain open and transparent, while creating a soft green shading device for the interior. It acts as one of the pavilion's main exhibits, showcasing an American-invented hydroponic system, the diversity of American crops and heirloom seeds, and the light, shadows and even smells of a lush vegetable farm; all while providing enclosure. The appearance of butterflies, bees and even a Praying Mantis has added an entire ecosystem to the pavilion. The air is cooler, cleaner and smells better, the light is dappled and filtered through a screen of plants, and the constantly changing colors and volumes of the plants makes the wall ever-changing. Running full time, irrigating, moving and displaying the crops it has been a spectacle for the more than 5,000,000 visitors to the pavilion and millions more who pass by the facade.

WA：What was the most difficult part for you in the building process of this pavilion?

JB: The USA pavilion is the only National Pavilion at Expo which is funded by private corporations and not by the government which it represents. The greatest challenge to construct this pavilion is gathering the resources, funding, and support within the short allotted time, and to create a thoughtful and outstanding experience on a budget, while still ensuring the entire pavilion could be reused, re-assembled and recycled for a second life after the Expo. □

16 外景/Exterior view

评论

侯正华：美国馆延续了他们在世博会上的一贯套路，由国家授权、企业赞助组成参展主体，这种把企业的故事以国家的身份讲出来的做法，也算是美国特色。美国馆的建筑师需要完成的就是这样的命题作文。这次，他们把建筑语言重点放在了立体农场上（由Bright Agrotech公司提供）。然而不幸的是，由于米兰世博会高密度的街区式规划，所有人流都集中在有遮阳蓬的东西向主干道上。这面650m2的立体农场立面，被藏在了建筑侧面狭窄的小巷里，很难被行人注意到。相反，倒是那片巨大的波普味道的美国国旗餐盘的图案，简单粗暴地吸引了眼球。从建筑师的角度来说，这也许是一次建筑设计与城市规划的失败对话。然而最终它所传递的文化气质，倒是非常美国。

陈浩如：比贝尔建筑事务所设计的美国馆是一个功能性的技术集合体，意在此发起并主持解决未来食物短缺的全球性话题，并表达了对食品相关政策和国际关系的关注。简单搭建的钢构建筑物形成某种类似过渡性结构的空间，并出现多层次变化的流线。设计师将技术集中体现在墙面设计上，并用垂直栽培模式表达对待未来粮食栽培的态度。

Comments

HOU Zhenghua: The USA Pavilion has a consistent pattern at the World Expo: its exhibition body is authorized by the state and sponsored by enterprises, telling enterprise stories through a state identity, exhibiting a kind of US characteristics. Architects of the Pavilion are required to accomplish such a proposition. At this time, they lay the focus of architectural language on the three-dimensional farm (provided by Bright Agrotech). However, unfortunately, due to the high-density block-style planning at the Expo Milano, the population flow concentrates on the decumanus with sunshade. The facade of this 7,000-square-foot three-dimensional farm is concealed in a narrow alley, which would easily skip notice by passengers. While it might be a failed dialogue between architectural design and urban planning from the perspective of architects, the cultural ethos it delivers is nevertheless very American.

CHEN Haoru: The US Pavilion designed by Biber Architects is a collection of functional technology which intended to initiate the future topic of global food shortage, and expressed the concerns of the relevant policy and international relations. The steel building form a transitional structure, the focus is centered on embodied all the technology used in the wall design, and treated which with a vertical grain cultivation patterns to express the attitude of the future food cultivation.