A great work at the service of the community
The Italian Pavilion, built by Italiana Costruzioni for the Universal Exhibition of 2015, hosted by the city of Milan, is a building designed as a container for multiple activities ranging from the tertiary sector to exhibition spaces. Conceived as a geometrically complex object, the Italian Pavilion is made up of the Palazzo Italia, a solid cable suspended over a square that attaches to the ground by means of large sculptural bases and four large slats that mark the Cardo, the transverse axis that, together with the Decumanus, defines the distribution infrastructure designed for Expo 2015.
Taken together, the Palazzo Italia and the slats on the Cardo constitute the most representative structure of the Universal Exhibition of 2015 and represent a world-renowned architectural and engineering excellence. A building of extraordinary construction complexity in its structural systems and architectural finishes, the Italian Pavilion was one of the greatest challenges for Italiana Costruzioni, which completed the buildings in just under a year.
Palazzo Italia is spread over a basement, 5 floors above ground and a panoramic terrace.
During Expo 2015, the building was used, on three levels, as an exhibition site for Italy, the host nation of the event, and was home to the organization's management structures. The structures on the Cardo, on two/three levels above ground and with panoramic terraces on the roofs, hosted various entities participating in the event, including the European Union and the Lombardy Region.
The Italian Pavilion, as a whole, was the most visited structure during the event, with an average of around 10,000 visitors per day. At the end of Expo 2015, Palazzo Italia will be the only building to remain on the site and will be converted to new uses, while the Cardo slats, despite their attractiveness, will probably be dismantled. From that moment on, Palazzo Italia will become one of the landmarks of the Milanese urban landscape, thus remaining a great work at the service of the community.