EXHIBITOR MAGAZINE'S WORLD EXPO AWARDS HONORABLE MENTION FOR EXTERIOR DESIGN: AUSTRIA

DESIGN: BWM Designers and Architects

FABRICATION: NUSSLI Group

ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTORS: Kling Klang Klong, Mozarteum Salzburg and Elisabeth Gutjahr, Grosse8, Zone Media, Werkraum Ingenieure ZT GmbH, Graf Holztechnik, Shinohara, Dream Design Factory, Bewunder

After Johann Strauss adapted “The Blue Danube” into a completely orchestral version for the 1867 World Expo in Paris, it became the Austrian composer's most beloved work and helped earn him the title of the “waltz king.” Almost 160 years later, the Austrian pavilion — knowing most Japanese associate the country with classical music — paid homage to that history with a spiral-shaped structure in the unmistakable form of a musical note aptly themed “Composing the Future.” Rising more than 50 feet, the structure's approximately 300-by-14-foot ribbon had an inner surface designed as an iconic musical staff: the opening bars of Beethoven's “Ode to Joy.” The bare timber construction — made from certified Austrian spruce — used screwed wooden slats instead of glue that rendered the pavilion easy to dismantle and ultimately reuse, hitting the right notes of climate friendliness and sustainability.