Located in the sustainability zone of EXPO 2020 Dubai, the Czech pavilion, designed by Formosa AA and R/FRM, is an invitation for discovery. Raising questions concerning desert cultivation, it integrates and exposes the S.A.W.E.R. system cultivation plant. Visible technologies form the main formal and visual components of the pavilion.
Consisting of four volumes using a steel frame system, forming the framework of the object, the Czech pavilion draws the attention of the visitors with its “organic cloud structure that grows out from the garden at the place of the cultivated desert”. Covered with Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastics (GFRP), the material was selected for its resistance to climatic influences and its sustainability characteristics.
The concept refers to the substance of the S.A.W.E.R. system as the heart and technological core of the pavilion. Its substance that is manifested on many levels is transformation. It turns air in water, arid desert in a flowering garden and it also changes the way people perceive the Czech Republic. An inevitable condition of such transformation potential is a considerable complexity of the system that grows through the whole object. -- Formosa AA
The entrance space holds an oasis that interconnects nature and technology, light and water. This zone revolves around a spring that is fed with water produced by the S.A.W.E.R. system and a lighting installation entitled Lasvit. The ramp around the installation generates exhibition areas and galleries. In fact, “the lifeblood of the pavilion organism is water that penetrates and unifies all its parts starting with the garden that is irrigated by it to a spring that is fed by it up to an organic form of a cloud that is inspired by it”.
“The pavilion configuration supports the principle of connecting minds as the pavilion works as a network interface from where the content may be browsed in any way whatsoever”. A functional concept of the structure, this configuration minimizes single-direction passage. The restaurant, attached to the central space, can also be linked to the garden or to a multimedia conference hall. In fact, all premises may be combined in a single unit directly attached to an adjacent plaza. Starting and exiting from the garden, the visitor is exposed to a “prototype of the system permeating the entire pavilion as a mobile container enclosed version, a product that has the potential to change life in desert areas”.
Architect: Jan Tůma, Jindřich Ráftl- Formosa AA, R/FRM
Client: KGK
Contractor: MCI Group
