Organized around the official theme “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life,” Expo Milano's 2015 edition featured exhibits and events from 147 participating countries—including 54 national pavilions—that explore ways to produce healthy, safe and sustainable food for the world. Pentagram has created the identity and environmental graphics for the USA Pavilion, which is designed by James Biber of Biber Architects.
Titled “American Food 2.0, United to Feed the Planet,” the USA Pavilion focuses on innovations in the farm-to-table food model and sustainable production. Biber’s striking design for the Pavilion reinterprets the architectural forms of the barn and other agricultural structures and includes a 7,200 square-foot, football-field-length vertical farm that has been planted with a variety of vegetables, grains and herbs. The harvestable crops are grown in hydroponic planters on louvers that open and close like shutters, giving the building a feeling of transparency.
The 35,000-square-foot, steel-frame Pavilion is constructed of sustainably sourced materials that will be repurposed after the six-month fair is over. Visitors enter via open hangar-like doors and traverse floors made of recycled wood from U.S. boardwalks. The ground floor houses an interior exhibition, "The Great American Foodscape," designed by Thinc. A rooftop terrace for events is lined with energy-generating panels and a translucent floor that lets in light.
The identity for the Pavilion is a playful take on the American flag that replaces the stars with a plate, fork and knife. The symbol appears on a 30-feet-high by 40-feet-wide billboard at the Pavilion entrance. Like a roadside sign, the massive flag helps the building stand out in the Expo grounds, and at night it is internally illuminated. The symbol has also been painted on the corrugated steel on the other side of the Pavilion. Title typography is set in Titling Gothic.
The designers have also designed the graphics for “Food Truck Nation,” a group of six custom-built food trucks at the USA Pavilion that serve up regional American street foods like hamburgers, New England lobster rolls, BBQ and cheesecake. Products and ingredients of different states will be highlighted at the trucks from week to week. The team also created the identity for the James Beard American Restaurant at Seven Stars Galleria in central Milan, a fine-dining experience that features five-course dinners by a rotating cast of notable American chefs.
