Expo 2020 Dubai’s 4,500 sq m ‘Opportunity Pavilion’ will be built using 2,500 tonnes of stone and organic materials including timber and over 100 kilometres of rope, officials have announced.
The pavilion – the final major design element to be unveiled ahead of the Expo – is designed to bring people together to celebrate global progress made towards achieving the goals set forth in the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
According to Expo officials, all the materials that will be used in the pavilion’s construction are recyclable, with no concrete.
The pavilion’s spiral shaped canopy, for example, will be made from around 111 kilometres of woven rope.
“In line with Expo 2020 Dubai’s theme of ‘connecting minds, creating the future’, global development goals call for collective action to enable greater opportunities for human progress, beginning with access to basic amenities that provide an enabled environment in which we can all thrive,” said UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation and Dubai Expo 2020 bureau director general Reem Al Hashimy.
Al Hashimy added that the Opportunity Pavilion “is the ideal platform to enable every participant, partner and visitor to learn how they can make positive changes.”
To build the pavilion, Expo recruited a team of architects, designers and curators, with the Australia-based Cox Architecture and UK-based Event Communications winning the international bidding process to design the building and curate the exhibition.
The site will be surrounded by a landscaped area that will include a number of F&B, retail and entertainment offerings, along with paths that provide access to seating and grassy areas for informal meetings.”
“The Opportunity Pavilion is a welcoming space that draws people together and sets them on a fun and engaging journey that progressively immerses them as active participants in a mind-awakening experience,” said Cox Architecture principal director Steve Woodland.
“The pavilion will feature a ‘rope-and-light’ theme throughout, with intertwined ropes reflecting the coming together of people to contribute to human progress, giving them a sense of fulfilment and encouraging further action,” he said. More
By Bernd Debusmann Jr arabianbusiness.com
