Expo Milano 2015: The Japanese Pavilion
Trying to revive the ancient construction technique of Japanese Pagodas using modern computing techniques: tradition and culture come together in the Japan Pavilion
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Innovation and tradition combine cleverly in the Japanese Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015. In fact we tried to respect the traditional Japanese construction technique interlocking using modern construction techniques and not neglecting sustainability assured by the use of natural materials. The result is a three-dimensional grid of wood that is to symbolize the origin of diversity Japanese; the four seasons, the nature, the ecosystem and food. The property is a creation of prof. arch. Atsushi Kitagawara and was developed by the company Ishimoto Architectural & Engineering Firm Inc. The exhibition area extends for 4,170 square meters with a wide entrance and a development prevailing in length reminiscent of the traditional houses of Kyoto.
For the realization of the structure we have been employed around 20,000 glulam beams of larch. The construction technique used is the one typical of the Japanese compressive stress which exploits the tension perpendicular to the grain of the wood, and the possible use of wedges to create tension in each node. The nodes are interconnected in such a way as to ensure a great flexibility to the structure; the result is that these structures are capable of absorbing horizontal actions to the structure (wind and earthquake). Also the conformation honeycomb structure makes the sail effect is minimized, and therefore there is a great endurance to wind load.
The wooden facade was made with the traditional Japanese technique of carving carpentry, but using modern systems to numerical control. They were also adopted new software able to outline the optimal trajectory of the cutter thereby reducing the timing of processing. Therefore, it is attempted to resume the technique of construction of the ancient Japanese, thanks to which the structures can absorb the horizontal forces to which they are subjected, given their great flexibility. This ancient building technique has been used to build the Pagodas, that when they were subject to great strong horizontal moving in a soft circular dance that the ancient Japanese manufacturers called “odori no hebi“, namely the movement of the snake.