The 2015 Milan Expo required the input of more than 145 countries and 50 international organizations resulting in over 70 temporary pavilions; a combined effort totaling more than ?13 billion. Norman Foster?s rippling pavilion for the United Arab Emirates ended up at ?60 million. The massive slab of concrete, laid out over the previously green agricultural land to act as the Expo?s foundation cost a whopping ?224 million. Even Vietnam?s ?low cost? pavilion came in at $2.09 million.

Courtesy of CatalyticAction

The 2015 Milan Expo required the input of more than 145 countries and 50 international organizations resulting in over 70 temporary pavilions; a combined effort totaling more than ?13 billion. Norman Foster?s rippling pavilion for the United Arab Emirates ended up at ?60 million. The massive slab of concrete, laid out over the previously green agricultural land to act as the Expo?s foundation cost a whopping ?224 million. Even Vietnam?s ?low cost? pavilion came in at $2.09 million.Compare that with, for example, IKEA?s proposal for a temporary refugee shelter that can house 5, costing just $1000, and one can see the absurdity of spending gargantuan sums on buildings that will perhaps be sold to be used later as a clubhouse, or to a museum as another temporary cultural center. Where is the architectural action behind an architectural event that boasts ?Energy for Life? or ?Better City, Better Life? - the slogan of the Shanghai 2010 Expo - yet spend...