The "Theme Pavilion"at Expo 2012 in Yeosu, South Korea was designed by Austrian architecture firm Soma to be as low-tech as possible and utilize ideas inspired by the natural world.
The best of biomimicry —
The "Theme Pavilion"at Expo 2012 in Yeosu, South Korea was designed by Austrian architecture firm Soma to be as low-tech as possible and utilize ideas inspired by the natural world.
Courtesy soma
The kinetic fa?ade is used to shade the exhibits inside and provide a means of ventilation. Up to 80% of the building's energy comes from renewable sources, including roof-top solar panels.
Breathing through 'gills' —
The kinetic fa?ade is used to shade the exhibits inside and provide a means of ventilation. Up to 80% of the building's energy comes from renewable sources, including roof-top solar panels.
Courtesy Soma
Built on reclaimed land, the architects were not sure their ideas for the pavilion could be realized on a large scale. They beat off star architects like Zaha Hadid to be a central part of the Expo 2012 with its theme of "the living coast and ocean."
An experiment in low-tech —
Built on reclaimed land, the architects were not sure their ideas for the pavilion could be realized on a large scale. They beat off star architects like Zaha Hadid to be a central part of the Expo 2012 with its theme of "the living coast and ocean."
courtesy soma
"It's a pilot project, the biomimetic technology really has a lot of potential," says Kristina Schinegger of Soma. "We're trying to have advanced contemporary architecture there, so it's not just the biomimetic fa?ade."
Potential plans —
"It's a pilot project, the biomimetic technology really has a lot of potential," says Kristina Schinegger of Soma. "We're trying to have advanced contemporary architecture there, so it's not just the biomimetic fa?ade."
CNN
The Korean Pavilion uses hydrogen fuel cells, geo-thermal energy and solar to be the Expo's only self-contained, carbon neutral building. It is designed to look like the Korean yin and yang "Taegeuk" symbol of balance. It cost around $19 million to build.
Carbon-neutral Korean Pavilion —
The Korean Pavilion uses hydrogen fuel cells, geo-thermal energy and solar to be the Expo's only self-contained, carbon neutral building. It is designed to look like the Korean yin and yang "Taegeuk" symbol of balance. It cost around $19 million to build.
Dean Irvine/CNN
Architects of the Korea Pavilion said that the building was designed to be a self-regulating system, like the Gaia principle that suggests the Earth is a single complex system based on integrated organisms.
Gaia theory —
Architects of the Korea Pavilion said that the building was designed to be a self-regulating system, like the Gaia principle that suggests the Earth is a single complex system based on integrated organisms.
courtesy samoo
Korean architecture firm Samoo also designed 10 of the Expo's main buildings in Yeosu. The "Big-O" (left) is part of the nightly entertainment display.
'Big-O' at the Expo —
Korean architecture firm Samoo also designed 10 of the Expo's main buildings in Yeosu. The "Big-O" (left) is part of the nightly entertainment display.
CNN
The British Pavilion, known as the "Seed Cathedral," designed by Hetherwick Studio, was one architectural hits of the Expo in Shanghai in 2010.
Shanghai Expo 2010 —
The British Pavilion, known as the "Seed Cathedral," designed by Hetherwick Studio, was one architectural hits of the Expo in Shanghai in 2010.
AFP/Getty Images
Who can imagine Paris without the Eiffel Tower? Built as the entrance way for the World's Fair of 1889, in its day it was experimental in its design and engineering.
Gustav's folly —
Who can imagine Paris without the Eiffel Tower? Built as the entrance way for the World's Fair of 1889, in its day it was experimental in its design and engineering.
AFP/Getty Images
While not as iconic as the Eiffel Tower, Seattle's Space Needle is another lasting architectural legacy of an Expo on a city's skyline. It has now been towering over the city for 50 years.
Space Needle —
While not as iconic as the Eiffel Tower, Seattle's Space Needle is another lasting architectural legacy of an Expo on a city's skyline. It has now been towering over the city for 50 years.
AFP/Getty Images
Architecture's vision of the future

Story highlights

Expo 2012 in South Korea is site of cutting-edge experimental buildings

Korea pavilion is hi-tech and carbon-negative

Theme pavilion draws on concepts of biomimicry with ventilation 'gills'

Architects of theme pavilion were not sure it could be built

Yeosu, South Korea CNN  — 

An unassuming town on the southern tip of South Korea is an unlikely place for one of the world’s most advanced buildings.

Until August 12 the city of Yeosu is hosting Expo 2012 and among the new buildings containing educational displays on ocean conservation is the Korea pavilion. It stands out as one of the most technologically advanced, if aesthetically underwhelming, of them all.

Korean architecture firm Samoo Architects & Engineers designed it to resemble the Korean ‘Taegeuk’ – the yin and yang symbol of balance – but inside the structure that concept of harmony is taken even further.

At a cost of around $19.5 million it combines the latest in hydrogen fuel cell technology, photovoltaic solar panels and geo-thermal energy to provide power, cooling and heating, making it carbon negative –taking out more CO2 from the atmosphere than it produces.

Korean firm Hyundai provided the fuel cells that are key to the company’s development of next generation hydrogen-fuelled cars, while architects from Samoo say that other engineering elements, like the seawater thermal pipes, are there to demonstrate their potential future use.

While Expos have long been associated with experimental and iconic architecture – the World’s Fair of 1889 gave Paris the Eiffel Tower – not much of it has stood the test of time.

The Korea pavilion however will be one of the few structures that remains on the site once the Expo has ended. Another is the Theme Pavilion that tests architectural and engineering limits in a different way from its national namesake, by being as low-tech as possible.

The Austrian architects were not even sure that the structure could even be built.

“The biomimetic principles (of the building) had not been built before on that scale,” said Kristina Schinegger of Soma Architects.

One vast side of the building is covered with reinforced fiberglass “gills” that can be opened and closed to either provide shade or ventilation.

“Really it’s based on material performance; it’s not a mechanism moving but the material itself, transforming,” said Schinegger.

“It’s an idea deduced from plants, how you can configure the geometry and how you can use certain characteristics (of the building) so you use less energy.”

German renewable energy engineers Transsolar installed the solar panels on the roof and have designed a seawater heat exchange system that will provide additional cooling and lead to 80% of the building’s energy originating from renewable sources.

As well as the importance of eco-friendly elements, Schinegger says that the spirit of adventure and experimentalism, in keeping with the history of Expos, was a key part of the design process.

“The architectural scene (at Expos) at least is something where you can really see things that are being tried out. The task is not to make an envelope for a function but to do something that is an experience in itself,” she says.

“On the one hand the architect has to do less, but on the other side much more. It has to be extraordinary, which is why architects love Expos.”