La Vela in the mega solar park, the plan for Expo Roma 2030

An area of ​​150,000 square meters and a peak production capacity of 36 megawatts.

Numbers that are enough to describe what will be the largest urban solar park in the world that will be built in Rome, in Tor Vergata, for Expo 2030. A district on the outskirts of the capital which, if the exhibition were to arrive in Rome, will be revitalized.

Expo 2030, the largest urban solar park in Rome

And it is precisely in this area - destined to change its appearance - that La Vela rises, the large unfinished building by architect Santiago Calatrava designed for the 2009 World Swimming Championships, now abandoned.

Part television set, part monument on the motorway.

But the work could find a new life with Expo Roma 2030. The structure - according to the plan - will in fact become one of the flagship pavilions of the universal exposition, host public events and show the transformation of Tor Vergata.

La Vela in the mega solar park, the plan for Expo Roma 2030

    The project was unveiled through a video in the masterplan - a long-term planning document - of Expo Roma 2030 created by the design and innovation studio CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati together with the architect Italo Rota and the urban planner Richard Burdett , for the candidacy of the Capital.

    There will be hundreds of "energy trees" that will make up the solar park for the exhibition.

During the day they will open and close their panels in order to collect energy, but at the same time they will also grant some shade to the visitors.

Completing the work will be the "Eco-system 0.0" pavilion, a building - the tallest at Expo - which will provide cooling through evaporation.