Brazil - Expo Milano 2015
The Brazil Pavilion has been designed to offer Expo Milano visitors a unique entertainment experience, as well as information about the country.
The tour offers moments of entertainment and interaction with information about Brazil's ability to provide food to the world.
By investing in research, technology and innovation, as well as social policies that allow for coexistence and synergies between the agri-food industry and family farming, Brazil is one of the world's leading producers and exporters of food products.
And it does so in a sustainable way, a balance between high productivity and environmental preservation.
This is the message of the Brazilian Pavilion for the visitors of Expo Milano.
The Pavilion
The design of the Brazilian Pavilion was chosen through a public competition, organised by the Brazilian Institute of Architects.
The jury was composed of architects Agnaldo Farias, Glauco Campelo and Ruben Otero, by the curator of the Inhotim Institute, Julia Rebouças, and by the president of the National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN), Jurema Machado.
The winner was the "Arthur Casas" studio, in partnership with Atelier Marko Brajovic and Mosae Milano Open Studio.
The pavilion consists of three floors and a landscaped area of 4,133 m² in total.
It hosts exhibitions, cultural and gastronomic activities, seminars, business and networking events.
Theme
Brazil is today a proven global agribusiness powerhouse, which has an important role in the Brazilian economy, accounting for 23% of its GDP and 43% of its exports.
The country is the fourth largest supplier of food and beverages in the world, after the United States, Germany and the Netherlands.
It is the largest exporter of sugar, green coffee (unroasted), beef, chicken, soybeans and orange juice, and also stands out in international trade in many other products, such as fruits, nuts, corn, rice and processed foods.
As a major player in global food production, Brazil is able to supply the needs of a wide variety of markets, thanks to continuous investment in research, technology and innovation, combining high productivity with environmental preservation.
Providing food to the world is a great speciality of Brazil, whose theme for Expo Milano is Feeding the World with Solutions.
Architecture
The Brazil Pavilion was designed to offer an innovative sensory experience and also sustainable in its construction, operation and dismantling.
The construction processes followed sustainability guidelines, including saving and reusing energy materials.
The structure is built with weather resistant steel to corrosion, Brazilian parquet and cork facades for thermal insulation.
Photovoltaic panels contribute to energy efficiency, complemented by a green roof with plants, adding to the thermal insulation of the upper floors.
A skylight running along the roof of the building improves lighting.
The "network
The design uses the metaphor of a net - flexible, fluid and decentralised - in a multi-sensory and immersive installation, representing the integration and interdependence of the different actors responsible for Brazil's leading role in food production, and its potential contribution to feeding the planet, which is the central theme of Expo Milano.
A major attraction of the Pavilion, the suspended net is an intersection element between the three floors of the building. Covering 1,250 square metres, the net invites people to walk through its twisting shape to reach the building, and to observe the long exhibition axis from another angle.
It is an invitation to see through things, to look "with the eyes of the net" at the cultures on the ground floor in a playful space of pleasure, rest and reflection.
The green gallery
In the outdoor area of the Pavilion, under the net, a green gallery brings together different plants selected by EMBRAPA, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Society, to show how technology has been used to adapt species to different biomes in Brazil.
Crops on display at the Pavilion include sunflowers, coffee, sugarcane, beans, cocoa, palm oil and fruits such as pineapple, strawberry, jabuticaba, cupuaçu and cashew.
In the same area, five interactive zones present information through games.
There, visitors can view a map of Brazilian production and the activities of the country's family farmers, corporate agriculture, and agribusiness.
Visitors can also explore themes such as sustainability, integrated production systems, access to food, and food security.
Learn more about Brazilian agribusiness
On the first floor of the building, a 56-metre long video wall shows a video that follows visitors along their path, where they can find out more about the diversity, quality and technology present in Brazilian agricultural production and cuisine.
Information is also available via a projection on the second floor.
Visitors can also see how Brazil's agricultural revolution and access to food in recent decades has transformed a country that has improved food yields and quality without neglecting environmental preservation.
Investments in technology, innovation and social policies have guaranteed access to food for all, positioning Brazil among the world's largest food exporters.
Also on the first floor, displays present the science behind food production in Brazil.
While exploring the area, visitors can learn more about Brazil's agricultural capacity.
Here they can also find facts and figures on technology, animal protein, fruit and beverage production, and food consumption in Brazil.
Along the screen, works by Brazilian artist Nazareno act as playful elements that explore Brazil's cultural richness.
The Casamata exhibition, by artist Laerte Ramos, completes the decoration. This installation includes almost 100 ceramic objects, inspired by the nests of João-de-barro, a Brazilian bird.
Promoting business transactions and debates
Organisations and institutions in the public and private sectors have found spaces in the Brazilian pavilion suitable for discussions and activities to promote business and international relations.
Involving 145 countries, Expo Milano is an important opportunity to strengthen Brazil's image through activities aimed at opinion leaders and specialist groups.
It is also an opportunity to promote Brazilian exports and attract investment to the country.
An auditorium on the ground floor of the pavilion, with room for 165 people, hosts conferences, seminars, cooking shows and other business promotion events, as well as discussions on topics related to the Expo Milano 2015 theme: "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life".
On the second floor, a lounge is reserved for tastings, cooking shows, business and networking events.
Cuisine and design
The Pavilion's restaurant and café serve traditional Brazilian dishes and beverages, ingredients and techniques used in Brazil and available on the world market.
Some examples are cheese bread, fruit juices and ice creams made from Brazilian fruits, caipirinha, and coffee.
The restaurant, with 80 seats, is also an exhibition space for Brazilian design, with chairs produced by artists of different generations and well-known names such as Joaquim Tenreiro, Geraldo de Barros and Sergio Rodrigues.
The lamps were made by members of the indigenous Yawanawa tribe, in the state of Acre.
Shop
At the shop on the ground floor of the pavilion, visitors can find Brazilian souvenirs and products, such as objects made from gold grass and other handicrafts from various regions of Brazil, coffee, cachaça, wines, books, and fashion products.
This is an opportunity not to be missed to have a little piece of Brazil at home.