AUSTRIAN PAVILION BY PENDA DESIGNHOUSE

The concept for the Austrian Expo Pavilion 2015, proposed by penda with Alex Daxböck, exists of a structural frame which leaves enough freedom for its visitor's creativity to seed plants on its structure and the space that at the end of the Expo the pavilion will be fully taken over by organic food.

'Feeding the Planet' – the overal topic of the 2015 expo in Mailand – gives Austria the chance to show what is really great about food in Austria – the quality. No other country has more organic food from local farmers in shops and foodmarkets. The reason for that is Austria's size. Being a small country means that locally produced food has short ways to its costumers with the guarantee to be fresh and healthy.

Specially in times of increasing food scandals, GMO's and worldwide cooperations owning our food and water, creating awareness of the importance of regional and seasonal food is significant. This quality and mindset of local production is the main design-principle of the proposal for the Austrian pavilion 2015. During the summermonths of the Expo visitors are asked to fill the gaps between the timber structure with seeds of vegetables, fruits or herbs.

As a designprinciple the structure is just a frame for 'home-grown' food and the visitors are the main designers decorating the pavilion with plants of their chosing. Therefor the guests get a pot at the entrance, then they turn onto an exhibition ramp of 820sqm – partly outside, partly inside – constantly surrounded by the main structure.

On this exhibition ramp local plants and seeds are shown to the visitors and they are given an understanding of the lifecycle of plants and the passion of people who are involved in the process. The visitors get a closer insight of how our food get seeded and treated while it grows, how it gets picked and harvested and the incrediences get combined for traditional Austrian cuisine, wine or schnaps.

That it does matters what we eat should be the main message of the exhibition to bring to the visitors mind. The ramp will end up at the restaurant, where all vegetables, fruits and herbs which are planted by the visitors will be prepared by the kitchen to traditional Austrian dishes.

At the starting point of the Expo, the pavilion will be a more or less a naked structural grid of 3.6m executed in quadruple timber with an squared profile of 8cm side length. Having a modular systems which is based on a straight grid, gives the pavilion a great freedom of reacting to an increasing number of visitors by implmenting more timbers and more pots.

With the seeding, growing and harvesting of the plants, the pavilion will be in a constant change during the 7 months and the appearance of the pavilion will turn from a structural frame into a grid which is fully taken over by nature. Being a main part of this transformation and experiencing the visit in the pavilion with all senses, the visitor's bond to the Pavilion will grow and Austria will be connected in people's mind as a place for healthy food and a sustainable way of life.

MYRTLE GARDEN HOTEL BY GRAFT LAB & PENDA

The hotel is located in the outskirts of Xiangyang / Hubei and sits on a small hill within the largest Myrtle Flower Garden throughout Asia.

The design of the hotel was primarily focused on providing a soothing harmony between architecture and its natural environment. Designed to blend into its surrounding typography, the hotel is partially inserted into the slope of the hill and offers a varying appearance depending on ones point of view.

Where else the hotel is read from the north as low to the ground and has a continuity to its surrounding  landscape, the complex opens up towards the South introducing the business area to a nearby already existing restaurant by the lake. A drop­off lane wind itself through and underneath the circular volumnes and offers a certain level of urbanity to the hotel's natural surrounding.

The lower zone of the hotel hosts all public areas, which are divided in 3 parts: culinarity, relaxation and  business, each represented within one form­difining circle. The lobby stretches between the business and culinarity area combining them to the main public zone of the hotel. Seperated by the drop­off lane, the Spa area gets connected to the Myrtle Tree Park and offeres a more private atmosphere.

The upper part of the hotel accomodates the private areas with 146 guest­rooms offering a unique view on the surrounding myrtle tree park.  Each circle offers a park with ponds and vegetation in its centre supporting a natural ventilation system throughout the hotel. Being constantly surrounded by the courtyards, the walk to the hotelroom is experienced as a walk through the park, which guides the guests naturally to their room.

Being situated within Myrtle Tree Park, the layer of balkonies serves as a connecting element between the  Interior of the Hotel and the vegetation of the park. Smaller Trees growing on and within the facade layer  underline the relation between the articial balcony structure and its natural environment.

The facade­ layer varies in depth, depending on the orientation of the rooms and provide natural lighting for the interior. This variation creates small balkonies on the narrower zones which exend to large terraces on the deeper parts offering a panoramic view to the surrounding typography.

Paying respect to its natural surrounding, the hotel also boasts a variety of sustainable design mechanisms  that reduce its environmental impact. The balcony layer with the integrated vegetation offers natural shading  and reduces heat gains during the hot summer months.

Every room throughout the hotel is surrounded by the Myrtle Garden on one side and a courtyard on the other, which provides natural air ventilation when needed.  Rainwater gets collected on the hotels roof and passed on to the 3 courtyards, where it is stored in tanks and  can be used for flushing and irrigating plants.

These sustainable aspects within the nature ­inspired design result in a harmonic structure which blends into its surrounding and offers its visitors a unique, luxurious and ecological get­away from citylife.

Location: Xiangyang, China 
Partners: Graft lab & penda 
Area: 16.800 sq.m 
Hotel height: 19.8m 
Room number: 146