UAE Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai

Project Description

chapmanbdsp were appointed as part of Calatrava international’s design team on the UAE Pavilion for the Expo 2020 Dubai. Following a design competition with submissions from the world’s leading architecture firms, the National Media Council of the UAE selected the design proposed by Santiago Calatrava.

The structure sits at the heart of the nearly 500 acre exhibition site in Dubai, part of a six-month event showcasing architecture, global culture and innovation, bringing together participants from 180 countries and six continents.

The design evokes the wings of a falcon in flight, linking itself to the country’s history of falconry to emphasize the country’s present day goals of global connectedness. With an area of approximately 15,000m2, the pavilion includes numerous exhibition areas, an auditorium, food and beverage outlets and VIP lounges.

The four-storey pavilion was informed "by a falcon in flight" and is topped by a series of locally produced carbon fibre "wings" that can be closed to shelter the roof solar panels. Each of the wings pivots around a single point and the entire roof can be opened in three minutes.

It was designed to meet LEED Platinum sustainable building standards. Although designed for today; as one of the centrepieces of the Expo, it also needed to adapt to its lifetime operation for the next 60 years and beyond.

Expo 2020 Dubai welcomed over 20 million visitors between October 2021 and March 2022.

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