Constructive Development of the 'Microclimate Generator Pillars' from the Pavilion of Spain in Expo Saragossa

Abstract

The International Expo of Saragossa 2008 was dedicated to water and the Pavilion of Spain, as one more ex-pository element, wanted to show how water could be used as a means of conditioning. For that reason a proposal was as-sessed that combined the traditional use of ceramics and evaporative cooling in an innovative solution integrated into the building itself, called 'Microclimate Generator Pillars' (MGP). The purpose of this text is to describe the constructive de-velopment of the MGP as, although the theoretical development has been described in several technical articles, it is also appropriate to describe the technical problems that emerged when building what, until then, was just a theoretical model, as well as outlining the main results of the joint after its starting up. This is therefore, a description of an implemented facility as it has not been shown in any other technical publication, despite the impact this pavillon has had on the European architecture in general, and particularly on architecture in Spain.