BIBER ARCHITECTS AMERICAN

PAVILION AT MILAN EXPO 2015 TO

HONOR FOOD TRUCKS AND
VERTICAL FARMING
The United States will celebrate one of its most prized national treasures at the next Worlds Fair: thefood truck. In honor of the
theme of the 2015 Milano ExpoFeed the Planet, Energy for Lifethe American Pavilion, called American Food 2.0, includes
street-level food trucks that will serve up some favorite American dishes. James Biber, the New York Citybased architect of the
pavilion, told Business Insider, its not been decided which food trucks will be included at the site, but that there will be lobster
rolls for sure.
But the pavilion design doesnt end with food trucks.
The pavilions most visually distinctive feature, is its hydroponic facadeor, a football-field-length,vertical farm that is planted
with harvestable crops. It is as though a typical horizontal field was rotated (think Inception with a farm field standing in for
Paris) to become the side of a building, said Biber Architects in a statement. Its not our proposal for serious urban or vertical
farming, which is usually indoors, but a didactic display talking about the past, present, and future of the American farm, and the
American diet.
Behind the vertical farm is an airplane hangar-sized door, which opens the structure to the public. A boardwalk made of
recycled lumber from American boardwalks takes viewers from the first floor to the second. Above that is a roof-top terrace,
which is partially covered in a glass shade and photovoltaic panels.
Biber told Architectural Record that the masterplan for the Expo, which was partially designed by Herzog & de Meuron, is the
most urban hes ever seen. Lots at the site are only 20-feet-wide to create a more dense fabric. The Expo opens its doors to the
public on May 1, 2015.
http://blog.archpaper.com/2014/05/biber-architects-american-pavilion-at-milan-expo-2015-to-honor-food-trucks-and-verticalfarming/

Theme American Food 2.0: United to Feed the

Planet
Concept
The USA Pavilion is an open concept that will evoke the lines of a traditional American
barn. The American pavilion will showcase American leadership in the global food arena as
responsible and diverse; sustainability through science, technology, innovation and free
trade. It aims to foster awareness of and enthusiasm for American cuisine, chefs, products
and purveyors; highlight American talent, ingenuity and entrepreneurship and the United
States as a premier business and travel destination; connect people and businesses in the
United States, Italy, and throughout Europe, building on strong historical ties; and provide a
fun, engaging, informative, and delicious experience to all. From farm to table, in local
communities and globally, the United States is addressing the issues of sustainability, food

security, food access, nutrition, and waste. American business and science are leading the
way in sustainability and innovation in food and agriculture to help feed the world and is
engaging on these issues with Italy and all of Europe.
http://www.expo2015.org/en/united-states-of-america

Biber: USA Pavilion, Milan Expo 2015

11. AUG, 2014 0 COMMENTS

Biber Architects USA Pavilion at Expo Milan 2015 draws on some very American antecedents for its foodbased design.
Which is natural enough, since the pavilions a collaboration between the James Beard Foundation and the
International Culinary Center, in association with the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy.
The brains in those organizations are driving the intellectual position of the project, says architect James
Biber.

The Expos theme, Feeding the

Planet, Energy for Life, is about the
future of the worlds food system
and the challenge of feeding 9
billion people nutritiously by 2050
The USA Pavilion, called American Food 2.0: United to Feed the Planet features an open and airy, barninspired structure designed to move visitors through a series of exhibits, and stimulate conversations about
Americas role in the global food system.
Its based on a granary a long skinny building thats actually a kind of covered forum, he says. Its like
walking into one end of barn and exiting the other, through big open doors.
Its a place for the debate of ideas, where people can move through as a matter of choice. You can go
through it to see it all in different ways as a snack, a lunch or a 12 course dinner, he says. It solves the
queue problem and the waiting problem too, because people can go their own way.
Theres also the boardwalk, a uniquely American concept of combining food and entertainment. Here, its
made from reclaimed wood from New Yorks Coney Island boardwalk.
Then theres another modern American icon making its debut in Italy, in the form of Food Truck Nation,
highlighting Americas street food culture while looking at the nations diversity, its entrepreneurial spirit and
its fascination with all things on the road.
Theyre an incredibly innovative platform in the U.S. and another very American idea, he says..
Perhaps the most memorable element will be the pavilions vertical, floating farm that runs the length of one
side of the structure, like an upturned American field. It will have big green walls that are harvestable and
robotic to track the sun, he says. Theyre a panorama of American agriculture with grain and vegetables,
fruit and herbs.

And surely theyll be viewed as one more uniquely American innovation.

Expo Milan opens May 1, 2015.

http://architectsandartisans.com/index.php/2014/08/biber-usa-pavilion-at-milan-expo-2015/

Hurricane Sandy-Ravaged Boardwalks by

Biber Architects for USA Pavilion at Expo
Milano
This summer, the USA Pavilion broke ground at Expo Milano 2015, an approximately
42,000 square foot structure designed by New York-based firm Biber Architects. One of the
central elements of the project is an expansive walkway that will stretch from one end of the
pavilion to the other, rising from the ground level to the second floor, and serving as the main
circulation space. Its design is not only a tip of the hat to that iconic summertime host of
American food culturethe boardwalkbut also an environmental statement that speaks to
the ethos of this years exposition.

Biber Architects tapped Sawkill Lumber Company to supply the wood for the walkway,
specifying 10,000 square feet of reclaimed lumber from the Hurricane Sandy-ravaged
boardwalks of Coney Island and Rockaway Beach. The walkway aims to give a third life to
the boardwalks, which are made of rare tropical species such as Ipe and Cumaru that were
sourced decades ago from the rain forests of Guyana and Brazil for their impressive
resistance to insects and rot. A re-milling process will reveal the vibrant colors of these
tropical woodsdeep browns, grays, and redsthat were lost over time. After Expo Milano
2015, Biber Architects will continue working with Sawkill Lumber Co. to reclaim and
repurpose the wood from the USA Pavilion.

We have included new renderings of the USA Pavilion highlighting the boardwalk, a photo of
Beach 106th Street post-Sandy, and have attached a press release that offers an overview of
the project. Please let us know if you need high resolution images and any additional
information, or would like to set up an interview with the lead architect of the USA Pavilion,
James Biber, FAIA LEED, or Alan Solomon of Sawkill Lumber Co.

http://cubeme.com/hurricane-sandy-ravaged-boardwalks-biber-architects-usa-pavilion-expomilano/

GASTRO PAVILION

Expo Milano 2015 considers the future of food production.

STUDIO DANIEL LIBESKIND'S PAVILION FOR CHINESE DEVELOPER VANKE.

COURTESY STUDIO DANIEL LIBESKIND

In less than a year, the world will descend on Milan for the next installment of the once-every-five-years
world expo. Opening on May 1, Expo Milano 2015, Feeding the Planet: Energy for Life, will take a
turn for the topical, asking the more than 140 participating nations to tackle the subject of food. The
U.S. pavilion, American Food 2.0: United to Feed the Planet, organized by the James Beard
Foundation and the International Culinary Center, in association with the American Chamber of
Commerce in Italy, is being designed by New Yorkbased Biber Architects with architect Andrea
Grassi and landscape architect Susannah Drake.
The stakes are high. In its latest report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for example,
warned of risks to food security and widespread food shortage in the coming years, which are themes
the expo will address. There will be 9 billion people to feed by 2050, said Mitchell Davis, the Chief
Creative Officer of the Friends of the U.S. Pavilion and the Executive Vice President of the James
Beard Foundation. We need to figure out how to do that on the same amount of ground.

Though the U.S. pavilion will take on this knotty problem, it will also serve up what Davis called
Americas contribution to gastronomy, which, he emphasized, wont be hamburgers and hot dogs.
Instead, there will be a contingent of food trucks to convey the inventiveness and entrepreneurialism of
food in the U.S.
Biber Architects principal James Biber studied up on the history of architecture at world expos, setting
out to critique what he called a box with one door in and one door outa long queue at the front, a
linear exhibition, and an exit out the gift shop. Instead, his firm has designed a pavilion that will find a
balance between a scripted exhibition and a self-guided experience, allowing for a combination of
both.

U.S. PAVILION FOR EXPO MILANO 2015, BIBER ARCHITECTS.

COURTESY BIBER ARCHITECTS

The pavilion design is organized horizontally, providing different types of experiences across three
stories. Tying the experience together is a kinetic planted wall growing produce, which moves in
response to sunlight. The ground level features an outdoor area to stage the food trucks, but also
includes a fully enclosed and climate-controlled space, where organizers will curate the most linear

experience of the pavilions content. The second level works as what Biber called a hybrid experience
still an exhibit, but a self-guided one. Partly enclosed by the porous green wall, the second floor will
be a cool, breezy place. Above, on the third floor roof deck, the architects included two zones: the first,
an enclosed room for meetings and VIPs, and, the second, an open platform where organizers can
hold events and screen film and other media.

The expo site itself, designed by a consortium of designers, including Herzog & de Meuron, Ricky
Burdett, Stefano Boeri, Mark Rylander, William McDonough, and Stefano Boeri, arranges pavilions
along a grid of narrow lotseach 20 meters widethat will allow visitors to experience more of them,
and do so in systematic fashion. Daniel Libeskind is designing a bold red pavilion for the Chinese
developer Vanke as well as several monumental sculptures.
Into this context, Biber is designing the U.S. pavilion to become a scaffold for ideas, elemental and
open enough to allot for a lot of ideas and experiencesnot fortress America. Visitors will learn
about food security, public health, and the science of food in the midst of climate changewith a
Korean taco or lobster roll from a food truck. All of these ideas will co-exist in the pavilion, said Davis.
It will be an open, airy structure where you can explore these ideas or just hang out.

http://www.archpaper.com/news/articles.asp?id=7404#.VK_t6ivF_Zx

EXPO MILAN 2015. USA PRESENT THE CONCEPT OF

THEIR PAVILION

A lightly structured and welcoming barn, inviting visitors to embark on a journey in the world of
sustainable food. This is the concept of the Pavilion of the United States of America which the team
Friends of the U.S. Pavilion has developed for Expo Milano 2015. The project American Food 2.0:
Sustainable, Innovative, Healthful, Entrepreneurial and Delicious was presented this morning in
the main office of the company which is organising the Universal Expo.
The CEO of the International Culinary Centre, Dorothy Can Hamilton, the vice-president of The
James Beard Foundation, Mitchell Davis and the managing director of the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce in Italy, Simone Crolla, who are members of the group Friends of the U.S. Pavilion
Milan 2015, took part in the meeting, which was attended by the Sole Commissioner appointed by
the government for Expo Milano 2015, Giuseppe Sala, and the Ambassador of the United States in
Italy, John R. Phillips.
U.S. President Barack Obama himself had announced on October 17 to Italian Prime Minister Enrico
Letta the members of the team which will develop the project and manage the U.S. Pavilion during
the six months period of the Universal Expo in Milan.
Diversity and responsibility are the pillars on which the presence of the United States of America at

Expo Milano 2015 will rest. These elements will be enhanced both in the technological equipment of
the pavilion and through events, conventions and happenings which will enliven the exhibition area.
The project will be based on the idea that food is a universal language and that the future of
nutrition depends on the political, diplomatic, social and technological ability to solve in a creative
way the problems connected to nutrition at world level.
Visitors will be engaged in an itinerary from farm to table where video installations and vertical
and roof gardens representing the 50 U.S. states and the White House will lead them to
discover the rich cultural, scientific and culinary tapestry which forms the United States of America.
A specific programme of initiatives the Manifesto Project will be developed in support of
corporate responsibility and environmental and food sustainability. Furthermore, a plan envisaging
students involvement will be launched in cooperation with Italian study projects at U.S.
universities.
American Food 2.0 aims to be a young and global Pavilion. For this purpose, the most modern
technologies and last-generation communication tools will be deployed: it will be possible to live
the experience offered by the U.S. pavilion even through social media. Moreover, the search for
downright regional ambassadors will be launched from the USA. These ambassadors will travel with
Food Trucks within the exhibition area and on the streets of Milan during the event. The target is to
tell the story of Made in USA agriculture and nutrition, through the innovative elements
introduced in food production and distribution processes, and to highlight the important
contributions given so far to win in a responsible and sustainable manner the most thorny
challenges which humanity has to face.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1660832&page=3

USA Pavilion for Expo 2015 Breaks Ground in Milan

Let the building begin, proclaimed U.S. Ambassador to Italy John Phillips today, and with
that, the USA Pavilion at the Milan Expo 2015 broke ground.
The USA Pavilion marks a new magnet, within Expo 2015, for conversation and collaboration
to confront global food challenges. Today U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hosted
simultaneous receptions in Washington D.C. and Milan, via satellite, to celebrate the
groundbreaking for the USA Pavilion at the next worlds fair, which is expected to attract 20
million visitors from May 1st through October 31st next year.

Innovation is the lifeblood of the United States, and as a global leader in advancing food
security, we are eager to seize the opportunity to get involved in the Expo in a major way
said U.S. State Secretary John Kerry during todays reception, which was attended by former

U.S. Ambassador to Italy David Thorne, incoming Milan Consul General Philip Reeker, and
USA Pavilion partners, sponsors and supporters.

In Milan, U.S. Ambassador to Italy John Phillips joined the Commissioner of the Italian
Government for Expo Milano 2015 Giuseppe Sala, the Mayor of Milan Giuliano Pisapia and
the President of Lombardia Region Roberto Maroni and other partners at the groundbreaking
ceremony for the USA Pavilion, whose theme - American Food 2.0: United to Feed the
Planet - will showcase Americas critical role in the future of food around the world.

American farmers produce one fourth of the worlds food, but in order to supply the planets
growing population, we will need to increase global food production by 70% by 2050. Thus
the Expos theme - Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life - is both timely and poignant. It is
also possible. Thanks to technology, innovation and entrepreneurship, America now
produces more food - more consistently and more safely - and delivers it to more people at a
more affordable price than ever before in history. We will tell this story here, in the Pavilion,
stated the Ambassador.

Featuring a fully-functioning vertical farm, the Pavilion designed by award-winning architect

James Biber will celebrate Americas rich agricultural history and innovation-driven success
with many programs and events, ranging from interactive exhibits and tastings to salons,
workshops and innovation accelerators, created by contributions from private donors and
partners.
We rely on public-private partnerships to manage the American participation here. I am
proud of this approach. We are grateful to the companies who have already made generous
contributions towards the success of this Pavilion, and look forward to welcoming more
sponsors, as we continue to put together an incredible team. We look forward to opening the
doors of the USA Pavilion to you, and to millions of others, starting May 1st 2015, concluded
Ambassador Phillips.

"It is a pleasure to see the Expo site dressed in stars and stripes today and the traditional
food truck, which will be one of the key features of the U.S. exhibition space in order to
welcome the visitors of the Universal Exhibition of 2015. The United States are ready to
officially start working on the construction of a pavilion which, in terms of contents and Visitor

Experience, will surely be one of the most attractive and visited, said Giuseppe Sala, the
Commissioner of the Government for Expo 2015 and CEO of Expo 2015 SpA.

The Friends of the USA Pavilion Milano 2015, the private coalition responsible for organizing
the U.S. presence at the Expo, announced several key partnerships, highlighted by GE. The
two companies join a growing list of partners that will support the USA Pavilion and affiliated
programming before and during next years Expo.
Were thrilled to collaborate with a great panel of sponsors to address food issues on an
international stage. The USA Pavilion is committed to representing the diversity of the USA
and our collective commitment to solving the challenges of feeding the planet. We invite
others to join us, said Jerry Giaquinta, Representative of the Friends of the USA Pavilion
Milano 2015.

The Friends organization a collaboration between the James Beard Foundation and the
International Culinary Center, in association with the American Chamber of Commerce in
Italy is seeking partners to represent the diversity, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit that
have shaped Americas food story, while creating a global call to action around the
challenges of feeding the planet. The USA Pavilion is funded entirely through the generosity
of corporations, organizations, universities and individuals. Current partners include GE,
Brand USA, Uvet, DuPont, illy, 3M, McKinsey & Company and FleishmanHillard. For more
information about the USA Pavilion or to become a sponsor, please visit:
http://www.usapavilion2015.net
About the Friends of the USA Pavilion Milano 2015

The Friends of the USA Pavilion Milano 2015, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is a
collaboration between the James Beard Foundation (JBF) and the International Culinary
Center (ICC), in association with the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy, whose
mission is to conceive, design, fundraise for, and produce the USA Pavilion and programs at
Expo Milano 2015 under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State. Current partners
include GE, Brand USA, Uvet, DuPont, illy, 3M, the International Culinary Center, the James
Beard Foundation, McKinsey & Company and FleishmanHillard.

The pavilions management and program is directed by President Dorothy Hamilton (founder
and CEO of ICC), CEO Charlie Faas, and Chief Creative Officer Mitchell Davis (EVP of JBF).
Biber Architects has been selected to design the USA Pavilion. In consultation with a team of
experts across the science, business, technology, agriculture, sustainability, design and other
fields, the Friends organization will oversee every aspect of the project.
http://www.expo2015.org/en/usa-pavilion-for-expo-2015-breaks-ground-in-milan