Project: Copenhagen Expo 2030
Client: The EU-12 Member States: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.
Year: 2024
Typology: Culture
Size: 875,200 sq. ft/ 81,308 sq. m
Status: Idea
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Collaborators:
BOI ARCHI DESIGN
Client: The EU-12 Member States: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.
Year: 2024
Typology: Culture
Size: 875,200 sq. ft/ 81,308 sq. m
Status: Idea
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Collaborators:
BOI ARCHI DESIGN
SketchUp | Rhino 6&7 | Enscape | D5 | Adobe Photoshop
Project Narrative
The Copenhagen Expo 2030 masterplan reimagines the architectural exhibition as a living cartography of European unity, sustainability, and cultural dialogue. Inspired by the EU-12 Member States - the original twelve members of the European Union - we have designed twelve unique pavilions, each capturing the architectural spirit, design ethos, and innovation legacy of one member nation. Set along the sustainable urban waterfront of Copenhagen, the Expo becomes both a spatial archive and a forward-looking platform for shared European values. The result is a mosaic of architectural voices brought together under a shared narrative of sustainability, memory, and innovation.
The Copenhagen Expo 2030 masterplan reimagines the architectural exhibition as a living cartography of European unity, sustainability, and cultural dialogue. Inspired by the EU-12 Member States - the original twelve members of the European Union - we have designed twelve unique pavilions, each capturing the architectural spirit, design ethos, and innovation legacy of one member nation. Set along the sustainable urban waterfront of Copenhagen, the Expo becomes both a spatial archive and a forward-looking platform for shared European values. The result is a mosaic of architectural voices brought together under a shared narrative of sustainability, memory, and innovation.
Why Copenhagen?
We chose Copenhagen not only for its stunning maritime setting, but because it exemplifies a future-oriented city committed to carbon neutrality, civic design, and urban ecology. As one of the most sustainable cities in the world, Copenhagen offers fertile ground for a project that celebrates architecture as both a physical and ecological artifact. Its progressive urbanism aligns perfectly with our project's ethos: design as both exhibition and experiment in sustainable futures.
We chose Copenhagen not only for its stunning maritime setting, but because it exemplifies a future-oriented city committed to carbon neutrality, civic design, and urban ecology. As one of the most sustainable cities in the world, Copenhagen offers fertile ground for a project that celebrates architecture as both a physical and ecological artifact. Its progressive urbanism aligns perfectly with our project's ethos: design as both exhibition and experiment in sustainable futures.
Architectural Concept
Set within a massive polygonal structure built from low-carbon concrete, the expo site is framed as both a sanctuary and stage. Each of the 12 pavilions—including the Vanessa Pavilion, Reflective Pavilion, Seven Stars Pavilion, and Waterfront Stained Glass Pavilion—serves as an architectural artifact and a functional space. Together, they form a curated sequence of experiences that invite exploration, reflection, and dialogue.
Set within a massive polygonal structure built from low-carbon concrete, the expo site is framed as both a sanctuary and stage. Each of the 12 pavilions—including the Vanessa Pavilion, Reflective Pavilion, Seven Stars Pavilion, and Waterfront Stained Glass Pavilion—serves as an architectural artifact and a functional space. Together, they form a curated sequence of experiences that invite exploration, reflection, and dialogue.
Pavilion Identity & National Reflection
Vanessa Pavilion – France 🇫🇷
Elegant, romantic, and bold. Inspired by Parisian structural finesse and French modernist detailing, this pavilion captures the poetic logic of French design. Think of it as a contemporary reinterpretation of the Grand Palais.
Elegant, romantic, and bold. Inspired by Parisian structural finesse and French modernist detailing, this pavilion captures the poetic logic of French design. Think of it as a contemporary reinterpretation of the Grand Palais.
Reflective Pavilion – Germany 🇩🇪
Precision, transparency, and order. A technical and sustainable masterpiece, echoing Germany’s Bauhaus legacy and engineering excellence. Reflective materials evoke clarity, truth, and innovation.
Precision, transparency, and order. A technical and sustainable masterpiece, echoing Germany’s Bauhaus legacy and engineering excellence. Reflective materials evoke clarity, truth, and innovation.
Seven Stars Pavilion – Italy 🇮🇹
Layered history meets sculptural flair. This pavilion draws from Roman spatial sequencing and Italian futurist curves, creating a sensory-rich journey of light, shadow, and texture.
Layered history meets sculptural flair. This pavilion draws from Roman spatial sequencing and Italian futurist curves, creating a sensory-rich journey of light, shadow, and texture.
Cube Pavilion – Netherlands 🇳🇱
Radical pragmatism and spatial efficiency. Channeling the Dutch flair for experimental urbanism (like Rotterdam’s cube houses), this pavilion is playful, modular, and rooted in circular design.
Radical pragmatism and spatial efficiency. Channeling the Dutch flair for experimental urbanism (like Rotterdam’s cube houses), this pavilion is playful, modular, and rooted in circular design.
Moon Pavilion – Greece 🇬🇷
Mythic geometry and architectural purity. Whitewashed curves and sacred symmetry reflect Greece’s ancient architectural DNA, reimagined through a minimalist, lunar lens.
Mythic geometry and architectural purity. Whitewashed curves and sacred symmetry reflect Greece’s ancient architectural DNA, reimagined through a minimalist, lunar lens.
Kaiyou Pavilion – Ireland 🇮🇪
Organic, oceanic, and mystical. Evoking the Irish coastal landscape and Celtic symbolism, this pavilion features fluid timber forms and atmospheric interiors inspired by mist and moss.
Organic, oceanic, and mystical. Evoking the Irish coastal landscape and Celtic symbolism, this pavilion features fluid timber forms and atmospheric interiors inspired by mist and moss.
Winged Pavilion – Spain 🇪🇸
Dynamic expression and light choreography. Like a flamenco in motion, this pavilion is kinetic, passionate, and climate-responsive, using movable wings and perforated light screens.
Dynamic expression and light choreography. Like a flamenco in motion, this pavilion is kinetic, passionate, and climate-responsive, using movable wings and perforated light screens.
Beehive Pavilion – Belgium 🇧🇪
Intricate craft and rational structure. Drawing on Belgium’s Art Nouveau legacy and engineering skill, the hexagonal repetition evokes both tradition and modern fabrication logic.
Intricate craft and rational structure. Drawing on Belgium’s Art Nouveau legacy and engineering skill, the hexagonal repetition evokes both tradition and modern fabrication logic.
Waterfront Stained Glass Pavilion – Luxembourg 🇱🇺
Intimate, jewel-like, and reflective. As one of Europe’s smallest yet richest nations, this pavilion uses colored glass and microarchitecture to celebrate cultural depth in a compact scale.
Intimate, jewel-like, and reflective. As one of Europe’s smallest yet richest nations, this pavilion uses colored glass and microarchitecture to celebrate cultural depth in a compact scale.
Quadralectic Pavilion – Portugal 🇵🇹
Philosophical, exploratory, and poetic. Inspired by Portuguese azulejos and literary heritage, this spatial quartet plays with layers, acoustics, and tectonics to express Lisbon’s dreamy rationality.
Philosophical, exploratory, and poetic. Inspired by Portuguese azulejos and literary heritage, this spatial quartet plays with layers, acoustics, and tectonics to express Lisbon’s dreamy rationality.
Leaves Pavilion – Denmark 🇩🇰
Scandinavian nature, craft, and clarity. As host nation, Denmark’s pavilion anchors the site with hygge, wood detailing, and biophilic design—celebrating Copenhagen’s sustainable legacy.
Scandinavian nature, craft, and clarity. As host nation, Denmark’s pavilion anchors the site with hygge, wood detailing, and biophilic design—celebrating Copenhagen’s sustainable legacy.
Red CMU Brick Pavilion – United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Industrial memory meets design evolution. With CMU blocks reimagined as British post-war textures, this pavilion embodies UK’s pragmatism, material honesty, and adaptive reuse culture.
Industrial memory meets design evolution. With CMU blocks reimagined as British post-war textures, this pavilion embodies UK’s pragmatism, material honesty, and adaptive reuse culture.
Design Language & Materiality
The Expo blends expressive formgiving with material honesty. Pavilion forms range from crystalline to organic, with materials that foreground clean technologies, biogenic materials, passive performance, and recyclable elements. Their identities remain distinct, yet are stitched together by a common design language of adaptive reuse, circular material flows, and lightweight structural innovation.
The Expo blends expressive formgiving with material honesty. Pavilion forms range from crystalline to organic, with materials that foreground clean technologies, biogenic materials, passive performance, and recyclable elements. Their identities remain distinct, yet are stitched together by a common design language of adaptive reuse, circular material flows, and lightweight structural innovation.
Urban Strategy
The project is embedded in the urban metabolism of Copenhagen’s harborfront. It functions as a public gathering space, exhibition hub, and innovation playground. The urban edge is softened through green buffers, biophilic design, and visual porosity. The inclusion of a ferris wheel, waterfront walkways, and water-integrated landscape features ties the Expo to the civic rhythms of the city.
The project is embedded in the urban metabolism of Copenhagen’s harborfront. It functions as a public gathering space, exhibition hub, and innovation playground. The urban edge is softened through green buffers, biophilic design, and visual porosity. The inclusion of a ferris wheel, waterfront walkways, and water-integrated landscape features ties the Expo to the civic rhythms of the city.
Cultural Logic
Each pavilion in the Expo is both a memory and a proposal—a living archive where the past meets the future. This convergence makes Copenhagen Expo not just an architectural destination, but a spatial manifesto: a formgiving act that celebrates the transformative power of design across time.
