The Austrian project and pavilion, designed by Trecolore architects, followed the Fair’s main theme ‘Wisdom of Nature’ by playing around with all the senses.
When entering the pavilion, visitors were brought into a waltz with dancers. They could touch an icy wall at the Ice Bar. In the café, it smelled like Viennese mélange coffee and sachertorte with whipped cream. It was an experience on how Austria sounded, smell and tasted. The pavilion wanted to appeal to the people emotionally.
The concept was to playfully interpret clichés like Sacher tortes, toboggan runs and dirndls but also to work with innovative designs.
‘The Slope’ was an innovative prime example of Austrian wood construction, a central area, and a forum for activities and interaction for numerous events. It was a stage for Austrian achievements and its culture of life. But it was also an appealing invitation to visitors from the entire world to take off for Austria. The unusual plywood structure was also the scene of less common forms of movement like tobogganing.
Robert Punkenhofer, art&idea
2005
Aichi, japan
