Expo Milano 2015

With 5 awards and a record 2 million visitors, the Angola Pavilion at the Universal
Exposition of Milan is the big winner in all categories.

Expo Milano 2015 and its theme of “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life” has come to an end after 184 days, the Angola Pavilion having waged an admirable campaign, earning widespread recognition and winning five important awards.

These include the Award for the Best Pavilion of the Universal Exposition of Milan 2015 given by the Class Expo Pavilion Heritage Awards, which honours the pavilion that best communicates and interprets the THEME of the EXPO “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life” and leaves the most lasting legacy for the future of humanity.

Organised by Class Editori and Laureate International Universities, the competition is judged by students from around the world and by architecture and design experts, and aims to honour projects that most contribute to innovation in architecture and design in terms of functionality and sustainability.

The Angola Pavilion also received the Special Prize (WAA) from the World Association of Agronomists, in conjunction with the Italian Order of Agronomy and Forestry Engineers, in the Class Expo Pavilion Heritage Awards. In this category, it beat out the favourites, winning first place ahead of the UN and FAO’s Pavilion Zero and the Israel Pavilion.

Another prize won was the Silver Medal from Bureau International des Expositions, considered one of the exhibition’s most important awards. Angola secured second place in the category Best Theme Development in the Exhibition, based on dietary and nutritional practices.

The Institutional Gold Medal was awarded to the Steering Committee of the EXPO by BIE (Bureau International des Expositions), which was presented to the President of the Committee of Pavilion Commissioners General and the Commissioner General of Angola, Albina Assis Africano. In being recognised for her excellent work in leading the organisational structure of commissioners general from 145 participating countries, the Angolan commissioner became the first African to receive a distinction at this level within the BIE.

The special prize WE – Women for Expo, in collaboration with ARC VISION – Women and Architecture, a special initiative by EXPO and the Italcementi Group that recognises the contributions of women architects, was awarded to Paula Nascimento, a member of the team responsible for the Angola Pavilion project.

The architectural and museological project

The architectural and museological project was led by Atlantic Alliance | Muse, which operated on a turnkey basis, collaborating on conception, architecture and design, museography, content and audiovisual production, engineering, construction and theme development, and coordinating a multidisciplinary and multinational team of professionals.

The pavilion’s structure paid special attention to the use of sustainable materials and was dismountable.

With an experienced team and a portfolio that includes 23 pavilions in 6 world exhibitions and various international awards, MUSE – MUSEUMS & EXPOS is a specialist in cultural consulting and developing projects in museums, exhibitions, theme parks and other cultural spaces.

View project

The Azores Aquarium is a space entirely dedicated to the discovery, interpretation and conservation of the beautiful Azores Sea and all the wealth of the ocean heritage and marine biodiversity of the Azores Archipelago.

The full project, covering the architectural and exhibition designs, was developed by the MUSE teams in collaboration with the teams from the Alvaro Planchuelo Architecture Studio and the Azorean company Picos de Aventura.

Inspired by the magic of the Azores Sea and its unique features, the architectural complex of the Azores Aquarium intends to establish itself as a landmark. The architectural concept is the most characteristic symbolic element of the marine geography of the Azores – the form of a volcano or seamount – embodied in a large octagonal basalt structure and representative of the part of a volcano emerging from the sea. The result forms a very powerful uniform complex of scenography, with over a million litres of water.

The building with about 3,000 metres of built area will be situated in the waters of the western marina of Portas do Mar in Ponta Delgada on the island of São Miguel. The complex, which uses modern materials and explores transparencies and reflections, will be based on a platform placed over the sea and that is linked by three walkways to the seafront promenade.

Comprising an octagonal building, an aquarium-oceanarium, with a main tank and 10 themed tanks, a set of interpretation and permanent exhibition halls, the Azores Aquarium will reveal the extraordinary geography, geology and topography of the Azores Sea and its enormous diversity of biotopes, ecosystems, landscapes, habitats and species of fauna and flora to the public.

The exhibition route, with five interpretative halls and two aquarium areas, will recreate an amazing virtual journey that contains the main features of the Azorean sea, from its location to the abyssal sea floor. The overall concept of the exhibition aims to provide an educational, informative and entertaining path, managing to provide a strong sensory experience, using immersive, interactive and large format exhibition media, complemented by the surrounding sound and lighting systems.

The exhibition design aims to stimulate the direct participation of visitors, involving them in the interaction and transmission of content and activities.

The communication of the wealth of the ocean heritage and marine biodiversity of the Archipelago unfolds around the main themes:
– The Azores Sea from the Surface;
– The Mid-Atlantic Ridge;
– Rocks on the Shore;
– Discovering the Volcano;
– Journey to the Deep Sea-Floor;
– Science and the Sea;
– The Culture of the Sea – Tradition and Future

The live collection of the Aquarium-Oceanarium will present a spectacular range of creatures representative of all the species of the Azores Sea, favouring species that cope well when kept in captivity, ensuring the highest possible degree of freedom within their natural ecosystems and direct contact between the public and the species.

The complex also features an auditorium for 90-100 people, a scientific-educational laboratory, a marine mammal recovery dock, an area for therapeutic swimming, a dive centre and a whale watching centre.

As support facilities, there will be a coffee shop, an underwater gourmet restaurant, a bar with a panoramic terrace and a shopping area.

With visitor numbers estimated to be about 200,000 a year, the Azores Aquarium, combining scientific knowledge of the sea with technology, will be a unique facility in the Azores and a valuable pole of development for the region, with particular emphasis on tourism and the maritime economy.

In line with the sustainable development guidelines of the Azores Autonomous Region, the Aquarium is positioned as a benchmark theme park at national and international level. Each exhibition will be designed to promote awareness about wildlife, their habitats and conservation of the marine environment and promoting education, research and sustainable practices.

View Project

Upon preserving its memory, a company produces and shares knowledge about itself, creates more value regarding its vision and values and strengthens the relationship with communities.

Corporate memory allows a company to highlight the most important tangible and intangible moments of its trajectory over time. It creates knowledge and reputation for companies and brands.

The main objective of corporate memory is the transformation of narratives, the collection and analysis of documents and objects, of employees and founders of the institution, in knowledge and communication tools, with the aim of valuing the company’s identity.

The corporate memory strategy proposed by MUSE has a value that goes beyond communication and marketing; it aims to safeguard and preserve the corporate heritage as well as contribute to the organisation and historical interpretation of the institution, analysing its role in the development of the country and society as a whole.

It is a multidisciplinary knowledge management project, with an approach based on new processes of construction, reconstruction and affirmation of identity.

Astana Expo 2017 will help us to look at energy from a common and global perspective, taking into account the challenges and concerns facing humanity. According to Nursultan Nazarbayev, the president of Kazakhstan, the theme of the exhibition is closely related to the green economy and aims to contribute to the increased use of alternative sources of energy and water. Addressing the possibilities of the future of energy is a contribution to promote the targeting of global strategies and planning for sustainability.

https://expo2017astana.com/en/