The countries participating in Expo 2020 Dubai are competing to dazzle the world during the event, through the distinct designs of their national pavilions that attract the attention of visitors and reflect the history and future of each country, embody its main principles and competitive components and translate the main objective of participating in this international event, thus the Dubai Expo constitutes a platform. International architectural innovations are evident in the pavilions of the participating countries in parallel with the buildings and facilities of the event that constitute unique engineering icons, foremost of which is Al Wasl Square.
The pavilions of the countries participating in the Dubai Expo are distributed among its three main areas, which are the Sustainability Zone, the Opportunity Zone and the Mobility Zone, where the event allowed participants to choose the area that fits the main focus of each pavilion, and in addition to its architectural excellence externally and internally, the international participants’ pavilions focus on providing diverse and unique content based on the latest technology and reviews the latest innovations in various sectors.
The UAE pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai comes at the forefront of the architectural masterpieces of the event site, and its design mimics the shape of a falcon in flight, to symbolize the leadership and pride of the country, and its components reflect the values of openness, communication and tolerance, which are in line with the main slogan of the exhibition, and contribute to enhancing cooperation and joint action with the international community with the aim of improving the quality of life through sustainable development.
The pavilion is built on a land area of more than 15,000 square meters, and it consists of four floors, an upper floor dedicated to hospitality with an area of 1,717 square meters, and a mezzanine floor of an area of 584 square meters that includes areas designated to provide support, and two floors for display with an area of more than 12 thousand square meters.
Sustainability Zone
Many countries have chosen the sustainability zone as the headquarters for their pavilions at the Expo Dubai, including Brazil, whose pavilion raises the slogan “Together for sustainable development”, and given the fact that the largest river in the world flows in its territory, water will be the most prominent feature of the Brazilian pavilion. It will include a model of the Amazon basin, which a visitor can walk through or around to witness the sights, sounds and fragrant rivers in Brazil. The pavilion will allow visitors to discover more about Brazil’s rich biodiversity and the potential for sustainable production.
For its part, the Czech Republic will work through its pavilion located in the Sustainability Zone to present a spring atmosphere and creative initiatives centered on sustainable practices and concepts and raise the slogan “Czech Spring”. The pavilion will surprise its visitors with the main exhibition of creating fertile land in harsh desert conditions, by extracting water vapor from Air, an exciting technology that creates enormous potential, and the pavilion also includes models and exhibits that embody the Czech Republic’s long history of glassmaking.
Also, in the sustainability zone, Singapore will blend nature and architecture in its pavilion to highlight its capacity for urban innovation, and the pavilion explores the human journey towards sustainability, adaptation and living with nature, as it includes a miniature model of a singing tropical forest supported by a free-standing zero-energy ecosystem through a decorated three-dimensional green space with forest trees, it is covered in a bright hanging garden. Visitors can stroll through undulating natural paths and 9-meter-high conical gardens that highlight Singapore’s reputation as a city in a park. Visitors will go on an experimental journey through the pavilion, where they live the atmosphere and sounds of nature in the ground garden, conical gardens and hanging gardens, as well as gardens in the form of cones dotted with greenery that form the focal points of the pavilion and include exhibits highlighting Singapore’s natural heritage, its innovative urban solutions and the many types of orchids that grow and flourish. The pavilion also includes a multi-purpose open platform above the conical gardens, protected by a parasol and cooled by a gentle spray.
As for Germany, it aims from its pavilion located in the sustainability zone as it allows its visitors a knowledge journey towards various sustainability spaces. The pavilion bears the name “Germany Forum” and is characterized by a “synthetic” design in the form of a university campus consisting of separate units that intersect in a spacious lobby that includes a theater and a restaurant. A stunning artistic monument embodying the main concept of the pavilion. The pavilion, designed to be a destination for knowledge, research and communication, will provide an interactive experience tailored to each visitor, while reviewing the latest German innovations in various fields of technology and science.
While visiting the pavilion, each visitor will have a customized experience provided by the intelligent assistant system, an advanced technology that will be unveiled for the first time ever during the exhibition. This device will be an invisible companion which will accompany the visitors on their journey through the suite and provide them with useful information. At the conclusion of the trip within the pavilion, each visitor will realize the true importance of teamwork in the way forward towards sustainability, and that the issues that unite humanity more than those that divide it.
In turn, the Netherlands chose the Sustainability Zone to set up its pavilion, which reviews sustainable solutions through creativity outside the norm, as it forms a miniature world with its own climate as a smart building full of sustainable solutions. It will produce water, energy and food through innovations including a vertical cone-shaped farm. The building will be built using local materials that will be recycled after the end of the Expo to reduce the environmental footprint, and the weather inside will be controlled in a natural way, and its main theme is “water and energy integration”.
Opportunity Zone
The Expo 2020 Dubai Opportunity Zone is an ideal location for the pavilions of many countries, whose participation in the event focuses on the concept of opportunity, with its various ramifications and economic, social and humanitarian horizons.
With its main slogan “Innovating for a Shared Future”, and from the Zone of Opportunity, The UK pavilion, inspired by a project by the late scientist Stephen Hawking, will focus on reviewing British experience in the artificial intelligence and space sectors, and will provide an inspiring glimpse into the future, exploring various aspects from commercial space travel to artificial intelligence, through its design that forms an illuminated sculptural message. Each Expo visitor is invited to contribute to it through an ever-changing visual poem written by artificial intelligence using the contributions of visitors that will be displayed on the outside of the pavilion.
Switzerland has also chosen the Opportunity Zone as the location for its pavilion, which reflects its rich nature and diversity, from stunning scenery to innovative projects and ideas for a sustainable future. The Swiss Pavilion, inspired by the Bedouin tent, presents its distinctive cubist architectural style with its giant interactive façade, and welcomes people around the world to enter this Swiss crystal cave. The pavilion will give its visitors the opportunity to set out on a picnic through a sea of fog or on an interesting trip on a magic carpet, while the picturesque Swiss nature appears on the horizon.
Under the slogan “Smart Ukraine: Connecting the Dots”, the Ukrainian Pavilion in the Opportunity Zone focuses on 3 areas of smart life, smart thinking, and smart sense. The pavilion seeks to highlight how ideas and innovations can help build a better future for us all.
The pavilion will include inventions such as the electric bike that can travel 380 km without the need to recharge the battery and solar blinds that generate energy to showcase the spirit of innovation in Ukraine, as well as shed light on its culture, heritage and the lives of its people.
Mobility area
The Expo Dubai mobility zone builds bridges of communication between the world to push it forward and break the barrier between the real and digital worlds in order to build a harmonious global society in which we exchange knowledge, ideas and goods faster than ever before, and in this context many countries have chosen the mobility area as the seat of their pavilions and it will be focused on as the main sector during its participation in the Dubai Expo.
From its pavilion in the Mobility Zone, which bears the slogan “A Dream of a Blue Sky”, Australia seeks to define its riches of ambition and creativity, celebrate diversity and cooperation, and envision countless possibilities.
The pavilion will introduce visitors to Expo 2020 Dubai about the ethnic and cultural diversity of Australia, as nearly half of Australians are either born in another country or at least one of their parents was born in another country.
Australians come from 300 ethnicities and speak more than 300 languages. The pavilion will also introduce scientific innovations in Australia. From the first astronomers in the world to the accurate measurement of stars, galaxies and the universe, Australian astronomy is at the forefront of international research and discoveries, including optical / infrared astronomy, radio and theoretical astrophysics.
Although Australia is famous for its nature, beaches, mountains, deserts and rainforests, it has presented the world with some of the best inventions such as Wi-Fi technology, pacemakers, cervical cancer vaccine, black box flight recorder, and polymer banknotes.
For its part, Russia’s pavilion in the mobility zone bears the slogan “A creative mind leads the future.” Its total area reaches 3630 square meters with a height of 26.6 meters, while its design reflects the idea of permanent movement as a guarantee of successful development, as well as the idea of mobility, transportation and the intersection of various options, development and growth, whether for people or for technology, and the technologies that will be presented within the pavilion will focus on mobility by presenting various ideas and projects, while the business program for the pavilion is diverse and dynamic, and contemporary and traditional achievements will be reviewed.
The building of the Russian Pavilion consists of a circular dome on the outer surface of which there are tubular networks of threads intertwining with multiple colors and the direction of colors in these networks changes continuously so that they do not appear to have an end or beginning point, symbolizing the never-ending process of cognitive awareness and the growing speed of development and forward movement that cannot be stopped.
In its pavilion, South Korea will display the wonders of the future of mobility under the slogan “Smart Korea, Move the World Towards You”. Visitors will enjoy an immersive experience while walking the corridors of the pavilion, where unique architecture with a number of unique experiences associated with mobility.
The pavilion is a link to a world of open possibilities, and it showcases the soft powers and technologies that Korea has in the field of mobility, in a way that encourages imagination and search for a deeper meaning and gives a glimpse into the future of mobility.
By: Bashar Akram (Business reporter)
