EXPO 2015: NPS for Qatar and Oman Pavilions
Nearly four million people have visited the Oman Sultanate’s pavilion and the Qatar Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015. Great numbers for the two pavilions that Tecnostrutture realised for Expo 2015.
Why NPS® New Performance System for the EXPO pavilions in Milan
NPS® is a building system composed by steel-concrete elements that are light and fast to be placed. In the case of EXPO 2015 building fast was an imperative requirement. NPS® the solution.
Oman pavilion
The only 22 years old Riccardo Bona has managed both building sites supported by our technical staff. A challenge for the young but prepared guy. He tells us: “for the Oman pavilion the space reserved for the montage was long and narrow. In addition, the ground was not completely free. Third point to take into account: the montage planning of the NPS® structures (columns, beams and slabs) had to foresee likely overlaps with the activities of the building company."
For the structure supporting the Oman pavilion we used the NPS®L solution: 1,000 meters of steel-concrete NPS® BASIC beams, 800 meters of PDTI® columns and steel slab. Tecnostrutture designed, produced and shipped further steel elements as stairs, lift shafts and a runway to connect the 2 areas of the pavilion that covers a total surface of 1,500 square meters. Everything was finished on time and on budget.
Finally the expositive space was divided in 3 sections symbolising the sun, the sand and the sea to show 3 different ways to cultivate in Oman.
Qatar pavilion
The architecture of the Qatar pavilion recalls the traditional market – the souq - with internal paths in Arabian forms. It covers an area of 2,450 square meters on 2 levels. For the structures we used 1400 meters of NPS® BASIC beams and 1000 meters of PDTI® columns. The pavilion consists of a large central space with a circular structure at the center that is reminiscent of the form of the traditional food basket - the jefeer - symbolizing the interweaving of local dimensions and global innovation which characterizes Qatar. Tecnostrutture designed and executed the montage of the steel elements for this conic central part that has a max. diameter of 11meters and is 8 meters high.
The irregular structure of the project created some issues that we always solved promptly – tells Riccardo Bona, who managed the building site. For instance, I used to speak daily along with the design studio CityNeon (Asiatic holding who realised also the Qatar and Oman pavilions for Expo 2010 and 2012) and with Eng. Alfredo Scattolin of Tecnostrutture in order to manage the complex montage of the helical ramp with long spans. Thanks to the constant dialog with the technical staff and the supervision of Mr. Baldo, experienced Building Site Mgr. of Tecnostrutture we were able to promptly tackle every issue and to complete this complex installation correctly and on time.