International exhibitions are true laboratories of contemporary architecture where possibilities often difficult to implement in other contexts are tested. Today, this condition is exacerbated by the circulation, in different media, of the images of these pavilions that aspire not only to represent their countries but also to signal possible avenues for the future of architecture. However, we must ask, what is the real future of all these buildings? We just need to remember that immediately after the Shanghai Expo in 2010, 49 of the 54 national pavilions were demolished or dismantled, showing that these architectures designed to portray the world’s future end up lasting even less than their pictures.

On this occasion, the Italian photographer Andrea Ferro presents us with his photographs of the construction process of the Expo Milano 2015; they show us the recent past of these pavilions whose pictures now circulate the world’s press, addressing as well the question about the future of these temporary but not demountable architectures.