Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Reveals Design of Al Wasl Plaza for Expo 2020 in Dubai
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture has revealed the design of the last major pavilion for Dubai’s World Expo in 2020. Al Wasl Plaza will be located at the heart of the Expo site, acting as a central event hub. Its name “Al Wasl”, meaning connection, doubles as a reference to the city’s history and the Expo’s theme “Connecting Minds, Cresting the Future”.
Courtesy of courtesy of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.
The pavilion’s dome like trellis will have a diameter of 150 meters and a height of 65 meters. It will contain restaurants, parks, and fountains, and its translucent shell will act as an immersive 360-degree projection surface which will be viewable to visitors inside and outside the pavilion. The designers will, also, employ techniques which shall adjust the temperature inside the pavilion with the temperature outside, to achieve thermal comfort.
Courtesy of courtesy of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.
Al Wasl Plaza will connect the Expo’s three districts, sub-themed as “Opportunity”, “Sustainability”, and “Mobility”. The pavilions for the three districts are being designed by BIG, Grimshaw, and Foster + Partners, whereas the masterplan for the whole 4.38-kilometer-square site was designed by HOK, Populous, and Arup. Santiago Calatrava is, also, among the big names involved in the 2020 Expo with his design of the falcon-like UAE pavilion.
Al Wasl Plaza is scheduled to be finished by October 2019, a year before the Expo’s official starting date on 20 October 2020.
