Spanish Pavilion at the 2005 World Expo in Aichi

The Spanish Pavilion at the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan, explored the cultural hybridisation which has been a central theme throughout Spanish history. In particular, the pavilion focused on the architectural potenial of the Spanish cultural tradition produced by the hybridisation of the European Jewish-Christian cultures and the Islamic occupation of the Iberian Peninsula between the 8th and 15th centuries.

Since arches, vaults, lattices and traceries belong to both Christian and Islamic cultures, the Spanish Pavilion was conceived as a lattice envelope enclosing a series of interconnected vaulted spaces or chapels, each of which was constructed as a vaulted bubble, echoing ornate gothic vaults and Islamic domes. The lattice envelope is also a reinterpretation of a traditional element, since the lattice elements commonly found in Spanish architecture reflect the fusion between Christian and Islamic architecture.

The lattice enclosed an interstitial space which both hosted the pavilion's circulation and resonated with its Japanese context, since an engawa, or in-between space, is present in traditional Japanese architecture. The innovative feature of the lattice envelope was it's non-repetitive pattern which used six hexagonal tile pieces (like many gothic and Islamic traceries), each of which were differently shaped and and coded a different colour. The colours of the tiles resonated with distinctive elements of Spanish culture: wine, roses, blood (bullfights), sun and sand. The combination of geometrical variety and colour resulted in an apparently non-repetitive pattern, maximising the visual effects of the pavilion.

Architect - Foreign Office Architects
Content Exhibit - Ingenia Qed
Project Management - Inypsa
Photography - Satoru Mishima