The project synthetizes its spatial force in a unique balanced gesture. The idea was that of combining Italian culture with Chinese one, guest culture with host culture. In fact, the project proposes a building which, within a typical model of the Italian fabric of the city, attempts to incorporate an interpretation, from an architectural point of view, of the Chinese play of the building and of the Shanghai. The pavilion design is a square plan of 3,600 sqm for a height of 20 m, which is internally divided in more bodies of various and irregular dimensions, joined by steel bridge-structures that let catch a glimpse of linkage balconies. The structural modules of the building constitute a complex geometrically cohesive, symbol of the multiplicity of regional Italian traditions and customs that contribute to define the national common identity: a sort of mosaic whose different tesserae show unitary images. Even the form illustrates the topographical complexity of the Italian towns with their narrow, short streets and alleys following one upon the other and which suddenly dilate in the open areas of the squares, similar to what happens in the traditional Chinese urban agglomerations.

The building is grazed on three sides by a water blade which reflects and redoubles it so as to intensify its natural light effects. The pavilion is covered with ‘transparent concrete’, a material of latest conception made up of concrete and polymers; all that has made possible the optical transport of light and images which are susceptible of change in the different moments of the day. The project has been prepared by the following design team: Giampaolo Imbrighi, Teresa Crescenzi, Antonello De Bonis, Cosimo Dominelli and Iodicearchitetti (Giuseppe and Francesco Iodice, Marcello Silvestre)