Mario Bellini Architects

International competition: Winning Project.

After doing the Milan Fairgrounds, Bellini was called to realise a project to add on the Essen Fairgrounds.
The new pavilion, an extension of the city’s historical fairgrounds, recalls – albeit with different formal results – some themes which Bellini had already explored in past projects.
The project is safe, it solves the functional and distributive issues and thus concentrates on emphasising the values of the places suggested by functional programme: paths, large coverings and definition of the exterior of the building.
The roofing of the pavilion is surprising, inside, for its size and for the theatrical effect created.
A glass gallery with vaguely semi-circular sections leads visitors into the pavilion and the exterior covering of coloured cement defines the façades.
The dialogue with the city comes at the only possible point: a semicircular “nose” faces out onto the street accompanied by a long tail characterised by the design of the windows and by the variously inclined septums that support its movement.