After successful completion of the course, students are able to design an exhibition and event building for an international exhibition using branding and experience design in order to create a multisensual visitor experience.
Background
In the year 2025 Austria will take part in the EXPO in Osaka. The exhibition building should represent the brand "Austria" in Japan and serve as a platform for an exchange on economic, scientific, cultural and social visions.
The history of World Fairs dates back more than 170 years. The very first World’s Fair was held in London in 1851 in order to promote industrialization and new technologies.
While World Fairs were originally conceived as an international platform for product presentations, their meaning has shifted during the time. Nowadays, as it has become easy to access information at any time and anywhere in the world through the internet, World Fairs have converted into a marketplace for ideas and innovation rather than physical products.
However, even some of the earliest World Fairs had also a great cultural impact, spreading artistic and technological concepts like a wildfire. One of these was the World Fair in Vienna in 1873, where Japan exhibited for the first time after more than 250 years of self-imposed isolation. This first public appearance on the world stage was carefully crafted and left a lasting effect on the visitors. Japanese arts and crafts deeply impressed European artists and architects and led to a wave of “Japonism” all over Europe. Austria, on the other hand, become known as the capital of music and still draws on this image until today.
The first Expo in Japan took place in Osaka in 1970 – almost 100 years later - propagating the architectural concept of “Metabolism” worldwide. The upcoming Expo in Osaka in 2025 is hoping to follow up on these success stories.
Design Task
The task is a design for the Austrian pavilion at the EXPO 2025 based on the official competition requirements by the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKÖ). The overall topic of the EXPO is “Designing future society for our lives” with the three subtopics: Saving Lives, Connecting Lives and Empowering Lives. In this connection, it is important to consider the identity and image of Austria in Japan and explore the potential of architecture as a national symbol and image carrier. The existing theme for the Austrian pavilion “Composing the future”, which taps on the main image of Austria in Japan as the world capital of music, may be utilized, but should encompass also core topics like sustainable building, renewable energy, AI, life sciences, future mobility, etc.
However, the architecture of the pavilion should not only act as a billboard but incorporate its message both on the outside and inside (compare Robert Venturi’s concepts of “decorated sheds” and “duck” architecture) in the form of a “holistic visitor experience”.
Design Requirements
For further information, please refer to the following webpages:https://www.expo2025.or.jp/en/ https://www.expoaustria.at/en/about-expo/ https://www.expoaustria.at/en/ https://www.wko.at/aussenwirtschaft/road-to-expo-2025 (in German)
In order to support the pavilion’s function of promoting the image of Austria, the design process will consider concepts of nation branding and experience design.
The design will be developed and presented in the library's VR Space (DAVIS - Data Visualisation Space) [1] as a tool to create and assess the quality of the spatial experience. This requires good prior knowledge of 3-dimensional design, in particular 3DS Max.
To provide support, two workshops are offered as part of the course to impart the technical know-how for VR implementation.Training: 10.4.-12.4.2024Support in DAVIS: 10.6. - 14.6.2024
Due to the temporary nature of the exhibition (6 months), easy assembly and dismantling as well as the sustainability of the construction are also important aspects of the design. This area is will be developed together with Prof Oliver Englhardt (Building Construction and Preservation) and students of Civil Engineering.
[1] https://www.tuwien.at/en/library/digital-scholarship/data-visualisation-space-davis
Important: we only accept students who have good 3D CAD and visualisation skills as the use of the Data Visualisation space is an integral element of this course!
Team work is a must (!) with 2 participants per group. The reason is the limited capacity at the 3D-Lab which can only handle the smaller amount of projects.
Schedule:
07.03.2024, 1:00pm | Introductory meeting
Attendance is absolutely compulsory for all participants!
Students not attending this first appointment will be deregistered from the course.
14.03.2024 – 20.06.2024 Consultations
Weekly meetings: In order to pass this design studio it is necessary to attend the consultations on a regular basis.
21.03.2024, 1:00pm Concept Presentation (compulsory attendance!)
Each group gets 15-20 minutes to present their project.
10.04. – 12.04.2024 Compulsory VR Workshop
25.04.2024, 1:00pm Concept Presentation (compulsory attendance!)
Each group gets about 15 minutes to present their project.
10.06. – 14.06.2024 Compulsory VR Workshop @ DAVIS
27.06.2024, 1:00pm Final Presentation (compulsory attendance!)
@DAVIS: Each group gets 10 minutes to present their project. Please prepare a digital presentation AND
an A3 PDF folder with high resolution.
Evaluation criteria:
Design quality, functional and structural solution, exhibition design and visitor experience, quality of the 3D model and presentation skills.
ATTENTION:
It is necessary that all participants have already good skills in 3D drawing, design and visualisation as the workshops will only teach the transfer of your existing data to the 3D wall. Students with knowledge of “3ds Max” are preferred as this software serves as a mediator between your own CAD Software and the software environment (COVISE) [2]of the 3D Wall.
After the initial design process, we will have regular meetings at DAVIS and you will have the option to test your designs on a regular basis. The final presentation will also be take place in that 3D environment. Physical models will not be necessary.
Team work in groups of 2 is mandatory.
[2] https://www.hlrs.de/solutions/types-of-computing/visualization/covise
