AQSO arquitectos office, pavilion design, architectural facade, moire effect, expo yeosu, green roof, moving facade, deployé, metal louvers, circular building, floating structure, extreme architecture, cool design, great ideas

The Wavescape Pavilion achieves a stunning interaction between architecture and sea. Two connected spaces, used for the exhibition, are wrapped by a versatile skin, that gives to the building a fluid, transparent appearance. This skin conveys the movements of the ocean, recreating a wavelike vibrant motion.

Luis Aguirre
James Tendayi Matsuku
Howard Kim
Tony Yam

Building area: 6128 sqm
Location: Yeosu, South Korea.
Client: Organizing Committee of the Expo 2012 Yeosu.

AQSO arquitectos office. Wavescape pavilion, facade with horizontal louvers, floating building, transparency

The ambition of an architecture in motion can be achieved with the right site and requirements. This project represents a proposal for the theme pavilion of 2012 Yeosu International Exhibition, in South Korea. The purpose was for people to experience and understand the essence of the water and the ocean, which were the theme of the exhibition, and also the building’s location.

AQSO arquitectos office. Wavescape pavilion, interior, ribbed structure, central mega column. The interior of the pavilion has a large central column supporting the fungiform roof.
AQSO arquitectos office. Wavescape pavilion, general plans, water molecule, layout. The building consists of two main circular pavilions connected to four secondary pavilions

In order to represent water through architecture, the dynamic and translucent qualities of the fluid are recreated into the pavilion’s features. The structure is not bound to a solid state. It is always in motion, conveying dynamism through the varying layers of transparency which wrap the building up. The visitor will be guided directly into a space where ocean and architecture coexist.

AQSO arquitectos office. Wavescape pavilion, bird view, site plan, marina. The pavilion occupies a central position in the bay in front of the thematic exhibition site.
AQSO arquitectos office. Wavescape pavilion, section, facade movement from low tide to high tide, offshore concrete structure, piles

The buildings’ design conceives a diagram of two water molecules connected with each other. Such formation alludes to the interconnection of two large spaces of the exhibition, with four adjacent, complementing areas.

AQSO arquitectos office. Wavescape pavilion, cross section, diagram, foundation, green roof, ocean, water

These six circular structures rise on the water and are enveloped in a peculiar, versatile skin. Its membrane is composed of two layers of horizontal louvers, that confers a fluid, transparent quality on the buildings. It is a mobile element, that undulates with the ocean’s movements.

AQSO arquitectos office. The sections show the fungiform roof structure, the floating façade and the interior walkways and ramps connecting the interior of the pavilions and the roof.

This double, external enclosure floats on the water, allowing the slats to move vertically, emulating the tide’s motion. At the same time, the wave action produces an effect of continuous movement on the façade. The result of both displacements, combined with the overlapping slats in different layers, forms a diffuse and cyclic image of the interior, enhanced by the Moiré effect of the horizontal lines.
The pavilion’s image is reflected in the singularity of this osmotic skin, that shows how the nature of water is a living part of the architecture and the visitor experience.