Montana Shrader - Spanish Pavilion FOA

Spanish Pavilion by FOA (Foreign Office Architects)

This building was designed for the 2005 Aichi International Expo in Japan. The goal was to combine a cultural awareness between East and West, a fusion. For example, architectural elements that allow light to filter in are often present in European, SE Asian, and Japanese architecture, whereas the use of lattices is more present in Spain (as a result of the Christian and Arabic traditions) in architecture. In other words, there are varying ways of allowing light to penetrate a building, whether through apertures, or lattices. It was the study of lattices that led FOA to create an intriguing façade. Six hexagons were altered and re-positioned in such a way that the pattern is never repeated.

The external walls are made of earthenware hexagons with mixed colors. The walls themselves are an outer skin, which is separate from the inner pavilion. At first glance the multi-colored hexagons look like external, superficial decoration, however the interior reveals a much different approach. Because the hexagons are irregular and edges doesn’t necessarily meet other edges, but rather seem to “float” above the other hexagons, a playfulness is achieved. To accomplish this there required a shifting of some vertices. Therefore a computer program was used in the design process.

The fabrication technique is glazed ceramic. It didn’t say specifically how it was created, but because the six hexagons never repeat themselves in the same pattern a computer program was an aid in the process itself, and perhaps fabrication methods. Each tile was made through a ceramic progress, glazed, fired and assembled. The building itself is a hybrid of various cultures and traditions interpreted in a modern way.