Set between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Expo 2020 Dubai spreads out over 1,083 acres, making it one of the largest world fairs. It is divided equally into petal-shaped zones representing sustainability, opportunity and mobility. Anchoring each zone is a large themed pavilion set to remain after the fair. Coinciding with the UAE’s 50th founding anniversary, the Expo runs through March 31, 2022.
After eight years and billions in the making, the Dubai Expo 2020 opened this past fall. The six-month-long exhibit, pushed back a year by the pandemic, is the first world’s fair to be held in the Middle East. A record 191 participating countries, each with its own pavilion, are putting their best foot forward by showcasing their history, accomplishments, tourist attractions and ambitions.
While “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future” is the official leitmotif, a trio of sub-themes revolving around sustainability, mobility and opportunity anchors the fair. Indeed, the entire expo, including its pavilions, aims to be sustainable, relying primarily on solar panels and other renewable sources for energy and recycling much of its water.
A refreshing iced Moroccan tea at an Emirati café. There is no shortage of places to eat and drink at the Expo which serves up everything from street food to fine dining.
But what about recycling the structures that will remain long after the fair ends in March? After all, the infrastructure built for many world extravaganzas like Olympic games and World Cups, often become impractical white elephants. Not so in this case, according to fair organizers, who say that most of the park will be reutilized, becoming a new mixed-use community located strategically between Dubai’s airports and transit hubs and easily accessible by metro.
While most national pavilions will be broken down, the remaining larger ones will be converted to commercial spaces, residences, hospitals, clinics and schools. Whether any of them will attain the iconic status of the Eiffel Tower, which served as the entrance to the 1889 World’s Fair or Seattle’s Space Needle, unveiled at the 1962 fair, remains to be seen.
Some practical tips: plan ahead. First, know that to enter the Expo site, located about 20 minutes outside of Dubai, visitors aged 18 and older must show a negative PCR test or proof of COVID-19 vaccination. Second, book your tickets, making sure to avail yourself of the Smart Queue which will enable you to skip long lines.
The wait times to get into the more popular pavilions like UAE, USA, Italy and India can be quite long. When I visited in late October, the next availability to check out the Emirates airline pavilion was three days away!
Lastly, note that the fair is a magnet for school groups. If you want to avoid busloads of young children, you’ll want to visit later in the day, starting at around 4:00 PM. That will give you less time to see the sights, but it will be relatively calmer. Keep in mind that it’s impossible to see the whole fair in one day, so if your time is limited, choose your pavilions wisely. But, don’t just opt for the big, showy ones. For me, some of the smaller pavilions like Rwanda’s and Afghanistan’s were more rewarding than their flashier neighbors.
Objects include intricately woven shawls and wedding outfits, bronze daggers, jade relics and ceramics alongside turquoise, lapis lazuli and precious saffron – all indigenous to Afghanistan. I loved the amber and turquoise jewelry available for sale and walked away with a beautiful pair of turquoise chandelier earrings.
Afghanistan is known as the source of the world’s finest lapis lazuli. It has been mined continuously in a northern province for 6,000 years.Afghanistan’s “red gold” or saffron, is consistently voted best in the world.Located in the Sustainability district, Singapore’s cool, lush pavilion is an oasis in the desert, offering a vision of how architecture and nature can coexist.The pavilion achieves zero net energy and water with walls giving way to hanging gardens capable of creating their own microclimate. The pavilion is kept cool in the desert heat via water drawn from the ground, desalinated and passed through mist fans, significantly lowering the temperature. No air conditioning needed. When I was there, daytime temperatures hovered at 98-100 degrees. Yet, the pavilion was pleasantly cool.The innovative Netherlands pavilion showcases experimental solutions for water scarcity, energy use and food shortages by, among other things, the installation of a vertical farm and the harvesting of water from air humidity. The pavilion extracts an impressive 200 gallons of water per day. The power is obtained through lightweight organic solar cells designed by a Dutch artist.Located in the Opportunity district, the muscular Saudi Arabia pavilion is the second largest, offering a variety of immersive experiences exhibiting the desert nations’ economy, arts, culture and natural features.Some of the more daring visitors pass through a timed waterfall at the entrance of the pavilion.Large curved screens exhibit Saudi Arabia’s 13 regions. Photo: DesignboomA honeycombed roof with hanging plants keeps the café cool. In the gift shop, I was told that the Oud perfume I purchased was available only in Saudi Arabia.Also located in the Opportunity district is one of my favorite exhibits, the Rwanda pavilion, where you can trek with gorillas and buy colorful woven baskets and beaded accessories. Photo: Expo 2020Visitors can trek with mountain gorillas in virtual reality at Rwanda’s pavilion. Image: Flickr/youngrobvI walked off with more than half a dozen of these handwoven baskets. They now grace my dining room wall.China’s ambitious pavilion, shaped like a lantern, highlights 5,000 years of history and crowns recent technological achievements while offering a glimpse into the future with space exploration, robotics and smart cities.An ultra-futuristic concept car unveiled in the China pavilion is envisaged to fly and go underwater. It also boasts zero-gravity seats and holographic image interaction.Built of rammed earth, Morocco’s pavilion demonstrates an ancient alternative to concrete. It is built like a village, consisting of 22 houses stacked on top of each other. The carbon footprint is next to nothing as it was constructed from materials found within a 3-mile radius of the site. Rendering: Oualalou + ChoiA traditional Moroccan home is built of masonry or earth on the outside and wood on the inside creating a sense of warmth.The colorful and intricately carved doors of Morocco.Highlighting the relationship between East and West, Switzerland’s pavilion, located in the Opportunity zone, is an homage to Bedouin tents that stand on old dried-up river beds in the desert.I especially liked Switzerland’s electric minicar, which opens from the front.The Emirates airline pavilion had a 3-day wait list when I was there, so book your tickets in advance! Had I been able to enter, I would have been privy to, among other things, the future of aircraft cabin design that is set to take comfort and well-being to another level, redefining the experience of flying. The 4-story structure is modeled around an aircraft’s wings taking flight. And like many of the pavilions, sustainability was a goal in its construction with the use of regional, reusable and recyclable materials.Inside the pavilion, staffed by Emirates crew, visitors can use virtual reality headsets to navigate through a virtual jet, passing through different types of cabins, exploring seating configurations of the future and the fuselage’s interactive windows. And that’s not all. Aviation enthusiasts are given the opportunity to design and even fly their own plane with a flight simulator. Photo: EmiratesIn a nod to its heritage, the façade of Egypt’s pavilion is emblazoned with hieroglyphics while the rectangular entrance evokes its iconic pyramids.On display for the first time is a recently discovered sarcophagus belonging to the ancient Egyptian priest Psamtik. Photo: Mashable MEItaly’s pavilion, one of the most popular attractions at the Expo, embodies the concept of reusable design. Three boat hulls form the roof while the façade is constructed of nautical ropes made from recycled plastic. Organic elements such as orange peels and coffee grounds were used as construction materials. Inside, air conditioning is replaced by a system that uses shading, misting and ventilation.Israel’s open, mirrored pavilion, within sight of the Palestinian building, is focused on the future. With a design reminiscent of a desert dune and a sign saying “Toward Tomorrow” in a combined Arabic and Hebrew script, the pavilion strives to show commonality between Israel and the Gulf states.Traditional oriental architecture is the inspiration behind Kazakhstan’s pavilion, constructed from perforated steel. During the opening ceremony, a show performed with a dancer and a robotic hand symbolized the interaction between man and artificial intelligence and the search for a balance among the two.Topped by colorful cones partially covered with ultralight and flexible solar panels, Spain’s pavilion is a series of immersive experiences emphasizing biodiversity and sustainability. The “Forest of Intelligence” on the lower floor is a 3D printed artificial forest capable of producing oxygen.The stacked cubes forming Germany’s large pavilion reduce the impact of direct sunlight and generate shade, creating a microclimate. An outer shell can be rotated and opened, allowing the building to breathe.The giant entry portal to the expo merges old and new with traditional mashrabiya patterns woven from thin, light carbon-fiber strands.Children of all ages are sure to delight upon encountering Opti, the expo’s goodwill ambassador. 50 of these AI-powered robots roam the grounds dispensing information, cracking jokes and helping with food deliveries. If you’re lucky, you may even catch a pack of them performing flash mob-style dance routines to Kanye West’s song, “Stronger.”
