Carlo Ratti Associati has published details of their competition-winning design for the Italian Pavilion at Expo Dubai 2020, designed in collaboration with Italo Rota, Matteo Gatto, and F&M Ingegneria. Inspired by Dubai’s marine tradition, the pavilion’s construction sequence will see three boats arrive in Dubai by sea, before being raised and turned upside down to become the roof of the pavilion.
Titled “Sailing Beauty,” the pavilion seeks to explore new ways in which “beauty connects people,” embodying the theme of Italy’s participation in Dubai Expo 2020. The pavilion also pays tribute to the long history of explorers throughout the centuries who “sailed the seas and wove together a shared Mediterranean cultural heritage.”
The use of upside-down hulls for the roof of the pavilion draws a connection with the ancient tradition of seafaring populations around the world, while also addressing the contemporary embrace of circularity in design and construction. The pavilion will span a surface of 3,500 square meters, and reach a height of 25 meters, with each hull painted in a different color so as to create three petals in the image of the Italian national flag.
Dubai will be the first Middle Eastern city to host a World Fair in the exhibition’s 160-year history, with more than 25 million people expected to attend the Expo throughout its six-month duration from October 2020 to April 2021. The World Fair is the third largest global event after the Olympics and FIFA World Cup.
The Expo 2020 will also feature a UK Pavilion designed by Es Devlin, a UAE Pavilion designed by Santiago Calatrava, a Luxembourg Pavilion by Metaform and The Space Factory, a Sustainability Pavilion by Grimshaw, and themed pavilions by Foster + Partners and Bjarke Ingels Group.
Meanwhile, Carlo Ratti was recently announced as the curator of the 2019 Shenzhen Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, where he will explore the impact of artificial intelligence on cities. CRA has also recently designed a series of low-cost prefabricated houses for rural India, allowing homeowners to build any structure they like on top of it.
News via Carlo Ratti Associati
