The building, to be unveiled during next year's Expo Zaragoza in Spain, features liquid curtains for walls -- curtains that not only can display images or messages, but can also sense an approaching object and automatically part to let it through.

The pavilion's roof, covered by a thin layer of water, will be supported by large pistons and can move up and down. When the pavilion is closed, the roof will collapse to the ground and the whole structure will disappear.

The facade of the water pavilion will be like a very large display, with text, letters, and interactive patterns. "You could throw a ball at the wall, and then see an open circle drop down to meet it precisely where and when its trajectory intersected the water surface," said William Mitchell, head of MIT's Design Laboratory.

Officials said the pavilion illustrates the potential of "digital water" as an emerging medium.

The concept was developed at MIT, with the design produced at a Turin, Italy, architecture firm, with help from a British engineering company and French landscape architects.