This stunning yet elegantly designed Pavilion was built as a gateway into the Zaragoza Expo 2008 in Spain that is devoted to water and sustainable development. It is more than just a stroll through however, because this interactive exhibition hall that doubles as a pedestrian bridge across the river Ebro is too much to miss.

The Pavilion is designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, renowned for pushing the boundaries of architecture with urban designs and experimentation with spatial quality. Zaha Hadid has numerous award-winning designs under her belt, including The Peak in Hong Kong, Cardiff bay Opera House in Wales and the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Rome, to name a few.

The Pavilion in Spain looks set to be another feather in Hadid's cap. Both structural elements and spatial enclosures are organized around four pod areas that converge into a diamond shaped centre, with intricate beam structures separating the space into pods that each correspond to a specific exhibition space.

With clever intersection of the trusses and pods, architectural loads brace each other and are dispersed across four trusses, allowing for a sleek reduction in size for a massive bridge that appears to float above the water.

The interlocking also allows for exciting play with design. Thus, the complex interior space from pod to pod has small in-between spaces that act as buffer zones that diffuse the sound and visual experience from one pod identity to the next.

With an experience like this, one could almost be forgiven into mistaking this entrance into the exhibition as the exhibition itself.

www.zaha-hadid.com

via Dezeen