Marie-Thérèse van Toor, Lidewij Edelkoort, Michiel Raaphorst, e.a. Raining Stories

The Netherlands pavilion for the World Expo in Dubai, a spectacular design by V8 Architects, embodies the connections this country manages to establish between renewable energy, water management, agriculture and circularity. The 4,000-m2 building is designed as a circular climate system, a biotope: water is produced from bone-dry desert air, energy is generated and food is harvested. Raining Stories portrays the Dutch contribution to the World Expo. It presents the story behind V8’s design and explains how the architects worked together with artists and designers to integrate water, food and energy systems into a true gesamtkunstwerk to show how art and design can contribute to the solution of one of the biggest challenges of our time. In the book, Dutch top authors give their views of the future of water, food and energy systems. Renowned artists and designers add powerful aesthetics and thus contribute to the wide acceptance of new technology. The pavilion has a minimal footprint and will be demolished after the Expo. What remains is this beautifully illustrated book.