Words by Veronica Simpson

Slow Food

Architecture Herzog & de Meuron
Area 1,118 sq m

Herzog & de Meuron had a chance to show how effectively and cheaply good exhibition content could be housed in the Slow Food section of the Expo, commissioned by the movement's founder Carlo Petrini.

Sited on a triangular plot at the far eastern end of the Expo's central boulevard, these simple, open wood pavilions are triangulated to evoke an 'atmosphere of refectory and market', according to Jacques Herzog.

They provide a humble and welcoming base for a huge programme of educational activities and talks. The single-storey pavilions are designed to control traffic volumes and flows, allowing visitors to engage easily with all the activities, from lectures to workshops.

Strewn with simple benches and tables, the rustic but beautifully crafted communality of a traditional Lombardian farmhouse is the desired aesthetic. The first pavilion provides a few non-digital, hands-on interactives: an opportunity to write personal or political messages about food and the Expo in a large visitor book; another to sniff or handle the contents of a series of boxes to test your food sensory abilities.

At the end is a documentary with a logo declaring 'another world is possible'. The second pavilion offers slow food treats -- cheese, meats, juices, wines, with room for their enjoyment.

A third pavilion is the 'slow food theatre', for events and lectures. In the centre are low, planting beds with vegetable seedlings already throwing up green shoots. At the end of the Expo, the structures will be dismantled and reused as Italian school garden sheds as part of the Slow Food's educational programme.