Some notable pavilions
Contenido
Los siguientes pabellones de la exposición han sido incluidos, en 2007, en el Catálogo General del Patrimonio Histórico Andaluz.
Spanish Pavilion
Address: C/ Camino de los Descubrimientos, 12. Built on the edge of Lake Spain on one of the largest plots of land, the pavilion of Spain, the host country, was built according to the project of the architect of undoubted prestige and solid professional career: Julio Cano Lasso (Madrid 1920-1996), who designed a building that was to be symbolic and representative, but for which it sought to dispense with any historical or historicist reference.
On an elevated platform that descends towards the water through advancing terraces, two geometric shapes stand out in the complex: A large white cube hermetically closed to the outside and a dark-colored dome due to its coating of bronze plates. The cube housed a large exhibition hall; A cinema with a spherical projection system and movable seats was housed under the dome. The façade ended in a large lake which offered visitors night shows and around it ran the different pavilions of some of the autonomous communities of Spain.
The porticoes and open spaces are important in the complex, particularly the void of the large central patio, designed to distribute the circulation of people towards different visiting routes, in addition to serving as an open-air lounge.
White enamelled sheet metal panels and white marble plinths and porticos were used in its construction, with clay and marble pavements and mosaic borders and thanks to these colors that the building offered, during the show that began the nighttime schedule, the cube could be used as a large screen to represent different images, just as in the different diffusers placed in the "Lake of Spain" area.
The exhibition content was divided into three sections with independent access: Winds of Spain, Paths of Spain and Treasures of Spain. The first consisted of the Imax projection with moving seats, called Movimas, which took place in the hemispherical room; Caminos de España was a multimedia itinerary through several rooms that tried to combine the history and technological advances of the country; Treasures of Spain was an anthological exhibition of Spanish art that took place in the cube-shaped room and brought together leading works such as the Knight with the Hand on the Chest by El Greco or the Corpus Hypercubus "Crucifixion (Dalí)") by Dalí. In addition, the pavilion had another exhibition of national contemporary art and a restaurant serving Spanish cuisine.
It was conceived with a view to permanence and adaptation to future uses, which is why the spaces were open-plan and the interior divisions were made with removable mobile panels.
It is currently occupied by the offices of the Isla Mágica theme park, which reuses a large part of the building's facilities created for the Universal Exhibition, such as the "Movimas" mobile-seat cinema and various exhibition halls such as the "Cubo".
The modification to which Lake Spain was subjected in 1997 for the construction of Isla Mágica significantly altered the vision of the complex in its most representative façade. Following this great change, all the regional pavilions were dismantled, leaving an esplanade with a central lake and the majestic pavilion of Spain in the background.
Andalusia Pavilion
Address: C/ José de Gálvez, 1. Architect Juan Ruesga Navarro. The location of the Andalusian pavilion next to the Barqueta bridge, at one of the main entrances to the exhibition site and at the beginning of the route through the regional pavilions located around Lake Spain, was preeminent. Likewise, its volumetry, morphology and chromatic characteristics make it an element of notable visibility from the historic center of the city.
On a large white marble plinth, there is a volume with an elliptical base covered with sandstone. Crossing both, a large inclined cylinder appears as an axis, covered in blue ceramic with numerous small windows, designed to house performance spaces, a central exhibition space, a restaurant and a viewing point.
The construction complexity of the building is worth highlighting: the structure is entirely made of reinforced concrete and, given the difficulties represented by the 15-degree inclination of the cylindrical body, specific formwork had to be designed as well as using special technological systems to guarantee the fastening of the exterior marble and ceramic veneers. All these ceramic pieces that cover the cylinder were manufactured in the shape of rhombuses with the necessary curvature, which gave rise to ten different models.
The building project was the result of a competition with the motto "Tradition and Change." According to the author, the Sevillian architect Juan Ruesga Navarro, the white marble base represents traditional culture; the building with an elliptical base in sandstone represents the elaborate culture, and the inclined cylinder represents modernity, the artistic and scientific spirit in evolution, keys to the project of change and modernization to which the autonomous community of Andalusia aspired and focused. The roof or dome of the cylinder, 23 meters in diameter, has a mural decoration by Guillermo Pérez Villalta that alludes to the zodiac and the myth of Hercules [1].
Intended for later use by some institution, which is why it has a very functional layout, both in floor height and in the location of accesses, stairs, etc., it is currently occupied by the Public Company of Radio and Television of Andalusia.
Navigation Pavilion
Address: C/ Camino de los Descubrimientos, 4. The project is due to Guillermo Vázquez Consuegra, who with this building received a building mention at the II Biennial of Spanish Architecture.
It was dedicated to scientific expeditions and discoveries and advances in naval technique. It is located on the edge of the Guadalquivir River, in the southern sector of the complex, next to the pontoon that limits the river port, between the Cristo de la Expiración bridge and the Cartuja footbridge, a privileged place, looking towards the historic center.
It sits on a platform located at the level of the dock, offering its main façade to the river, highlighting in this view the curved metal roof that offers its convexity to the historic city and in which, undoubtedly, resonances of old images of hangars and port sheds can be seen.
It is structured around two buildings, one of them intended for services (cafeteria and restaurant) and the other for the exhibition's own uses, linked through a large covered stepped ramp, which at the same time as uniting them, is configured as a door to the river, establishing a direct visual relationship with the dock, the boats, the river and the city.
Finnish Pavilion
Address: C/ Marie Curie, 1. The pavilion was named "the Gorge of Hell", the name of a natural accident in Finland evoked in that narrow intermediate void.
The young designers of the pavilion (Juha Jaaskelainen, Juha Kaakko, Petri Rouhiainen, Matti Sanaksenaho and Jari Tirkknen), then architecture students, formalized the message that the country, which celebrated the 75th anniversary of its existence as a state that year, wanted to give about history and future.
The Finnish pavilion is structured in two buildings, called "the Keel" and "the Machine", of noticeably elongated proportions, which leave between them a narrow open space only two meters wide in which the stepped access ramp and a communication bridge are arranged.
The module called "the Keel", which is a reference to nature and tradition, is made entirely of Finnish pine wood and its artisanal execution follows the principles of boat construction. The other building, "The Machine", entirely made of steel and glass, black, would represent industrialization, modernity.
The Foundation for Research and Dissemination of Architecture (FIDAS) of the College of Architects of Seville significantly chose this property as its headquarters.
Hungarian Pavilion
Address: C/ Marie Curie, 7.
The Hungarian pavilion is the best and most original example of the wooden architecture of the great Hungarian architect Imre Makovecz (1935-2011), master of European organic architecture.
The pavilion is a unique work, completely handmade, built in non-industrialized glued laminated wood, with construction elements of formal diversity, made and assembled on the work itself without the predominance of the straight line. Its external appearance resembles a Hungarian rural church in which seven towers with bronze bells stand. It is conceived by means of twinned bodies, among which the large hull that acts as a deck predominates, like the inverted keel of a ship covered by slate plates, to which volumes are attached that form the entrances which are finished with winged masks of human faces.
The interior is configured as a framework reminiscent of the belly of a whale or that of a ship, resolved by mixing glued laminated wood with rounded shapes and straight elements carved from sawn wood.
It is divided into two perfectly differentiated sectors: the western one, an open space where the oak brought from the banks of the Danube River is still preserved, whose roots can be seen through the glass floor, and the eastern one, where the exhibition contents were located.
At the end of 2001, the building was restored, under the supervision of architect Enrique Morales Méndez, for the Museo de la Energía Viva, a small complex aimed at teaching how you can live with nature while saving energy and conserving the environment. In 2006, its demolition was proposed but was not carried out due to citizen pressure. In 2007 it was declared BIC.
France Pavilion
Address: C/ Camino de los Descubrimientos, 2. It is located in a privileged area, in front of the Spanish pavilion and facing two large avenues.
The pavilion was designed by the architectural firm Jean Paul Viguier, J. F. Jodry y Asociados as a permanent building. The architecture of the pavilion itself is a tribute to culture and technology. A large spatial mesh roof, like a portico, encompasses the wide elevated esplanade and a prismatic-shaped mirror building that is located at one end of it. The rest of the building is developed underground.
The large roof, 15 meters high, is supported by four chrome-plated carbon-fiber columns, creating a free and fresh space, sheltered and calm, with seating stands and drinking water fountains. The esplanade that is formed as an entrance anteroom and a plaza that gives access to the main building through a monumental door in its center, is resolved with glass tiles where the logos of the companies, local groups, large institutions and cultural organizations of France that participated in the exhibition have been silk-screened.
Below that esplanade there is a covered promenade where the most recent technological innovations of French industry were exhibited and a daring and wide "image well" 20 meters deep was revealed to the public.
A restaurant and offices were located in the main building. Of note is the building's ability to reflect the surrounding environment in its main glass façade, which overlooks the large esplanade.
The Fashion and Design Innovation Center and the Victorio & Lucchino Foundation were based there. Since June 2010, the company ALESTIS Aerospace has had its headquarters, dedicated to the construction of aeronautical material. Since June 2014, with the departure of ALESTIS Aerospace from the building, the El Cubo de Andalucía Open Future crowdworking center, a startup accelerator by Telefónica and the Junta de Andalucía, has been established there.