UAE pavilion at Milan Expo to showcase Emirati story of survival

Work on the site at the heart of the Expo site will begin this month and will finish next February, ahead of the start of the Italian city's world fair in May next year.

An artist's impression of UAE's pavilion at Milan's Expo 2015. Courtesy of expo2015uae.com

DUBAI // Work will begin this month to turn a sprawling site in the Italian city of Milan into the UAE Expo pavilion, complete with the towering dunes and shaded pathways of a desert city.

Organisers said building on the 4,386-square-metre site will be completed by February next year, with testing due to begin in April.

“The UAE plot is one of the biggest and it’s in the heart of the Expo site,” said Peter Vine, director of the UAE Pavilion Project in Milan.

“The UAE is one of the first countries to get approval of its design for construction. We’re working with prefabricated systems, so a lot will be built off site and brought in.”

Passing through a canyon-like entrance way, visitors will walk along winding streets and narrow passages evoking wadis or ravines. They will be guided to a cylindrical theatre, stroll under palm trees in an oasis and relax in a roof-top garden.

To mirror the ripple-effect of desert sand, dunes near Al Ain were photographed by a remote-controlled drone helicopter. A similar visual effect will be reproduced on 12-metre-high walls of glass reinforced with concrete to cover the main steel demountable structure.

The Emirati story of survival in harsh conditions will be tied in to the Milan Expo’s theme of “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”.

The pavilion will show how the UAE can be part of a global solution by highlighting how its citizens overcame the scarcities of water, food and cultivable land.

“It needs to be a story that inspires,” Mr Vine said.

“Our main film, that will tell the story about one Emirati family, is very compelling. It looks at past and present challenges through the eyes of that family. The challenge is to create a unique Emirati presence so that when Emiratis come to the pavilion, they feel proud.”

The Milan Expo runs from May until October. After the world’s fair ends, the pavilion will be dismantled and shipped back to its permanent home in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi.

Architects have used material suitable for the cooler Milan climate and the heat of Abu Dhabi in the design as they strive to create an architectural legacy.

“The tall, narrow spaces between the walls echo the self-shaded streets of Masdar City and the thermal mass of the panels helps to regulate the temperatures in Milan and the Emirates,” said Gerard Evenden, the project’s leading architect, from Norman Foster + Partners.

Low-maintenance glass-reinforced concrete walls and glazed facades will suit both a city and a dusty desert environment, he said. Additional solar shading may be added later in the UAE.

“As a national pavilion, the design expresses the landscape and architecture of the UAE in Milan, creating a unique and instantly recognisable structure – the colours of the sand and the forms and textures of historic structures are evocative of the desert,” he said.

“The landscaping around the pavilion is designed to echo the UAE’s terrain and flora.”

The team has been busy testing mock-ups before construction.

“The geometry of the form is complex and we are using mock-ups of the envelope to test the dimensions, structure, materials and experience of the spaces for visitors,” Mr Evenden said.

“We are using computer algorithms to control the degrees of complexity that enable efficient production.”

The UAE’s past strong performances in world fairs include a maritime-themed pavilion that won a silver medal in the 2012 Yeosu Expo, a dune-shaped pavilion that won the popular vote in Shanghai in 2010 while the country was among the top 10 pavilions at the Hannover Expo 2000.

First shown at Yeosu, the UAE’s National Media Council’s film The Turtle also won medals in international film festivals for plotting the journey of a turtle-rehabilitation programme through the voice of a young Emirati boy.