Project Details
From the outside, the Polish pavilion looks like a screen, but up close it is actually a series of stacked bricks separated by negative space. According to the architect, Piotr Musiałowski, it is supposed to similate an apple crate. Which is fitting, considering the entire inside is an apple orchard. The architects wanted to create a maze, but still have it relate to Polish agriculture. Apples are a main export for the European country, so they created both a leisure area and maze with the planting of the apple trees.
Project Description
FROM MILAN EXPO 2015:
The Pavilion Architecture
Poland’s Pavilion project was created by studio 2PM, belonging to the up-and-coming Polish architect Piotr Musiałowski, and its originality and surprising form is an clear response to the theme of Expo Milano 2015, Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.
The Pavilion is a simple, rectangular solid whose external look is outlined by wooden boxes. As for the building, it is treated as a large-scale box (or casket) in its entirety, hiding valuable "gems" within its interior spaces. The openwork structure refers to the ecological and simple form of apple boxes.
Magical Garden
One of the attractions of the Pavilion is its magical garden. The winning design relates to one of Poland’s top agricultural exports - apples. Piotr Musiałowski, leading the architectural team, during the conceptualization of the Pavilion, sought to create a symbolic maze, with a magical garden as its focal point – a Polish orchard, full of apple trees. The hidden garden becomes a resting place on the other side of the mirror. An apple orchard reflected in infinite space is clearly associated with the Polish agriculture.
On the piazza in front of the Pavilion will be featured scenery that combine to represent a solid "kaleidoscope" art installation, where visitors are drawn in, leaving the Decumanus to visit the Pavilion. Encouraged by its many attractions, vistors can see the Polish Marchés – and discover the "mysterious gap" at the entrance to Poland’s Pavilion.
Along the corridor that leads to the first floor of the Pavilion, visitors can discover a "nearby Poland." On the first floor, visitors come to a magical garden symbolizing an unusual and intriguing Poland and through its center follow a narrow, winding path interspersed at irregular intervals by apple trees. The reflection of trees in mirrors create the illusion of a vast and infinite space, thus emphasizing the magical atmosphere of the space.
