The architectural marvels set to be unveiled at Expo Milan 2015 have already wowed our socks off. But the latest design from Nemesi & Partners takes things to the next level with a sprawling smog-filtering façade. It sort of looks like Spiderman's secret cocoon.


The Palazzo Italia is about as green as green gets. Not only is the façade constructed of nearly 100,000 square feet of special air-purifying cement created by Italcementi—80 percent of which is made using recycled material—but the top the pavilion is outfitted with a photovoltaic glass roof that produces solar energy when the sun's out. The sun does the work on the cement skin, too, by capturing pollutants and converting them into inert salts that can be washed away.


This is hardly the first building to be built with a smog-gobbling façade, but it is an especially eye-catching one. The organic look of the place is intentional and will certainly help the Palazzo blend in with the other buildings at the expo. Nemesi & Partners say that the project is "inspired by a natural architecture in which the branched weave of the external 'skin' of the building generates alternations of light and shadows and solids and voids, creating a scenario that refers to works of Land Art." Art might be an understatement. [Creators Project]


Images via Nemesi & Partners