UK studio Grimshaw has designed a pavilion topped with a 135-metre-wide, solar-panel-covered canopy to anchor the sustainability district at the Dubai Expo.
Named Terra, the pavilion stands at one of the main entrances to the site and generates all its own water and energy.
The Sustainability Pavilion stands near one of the expo's entrances
Designed as the main permanent building within the sustainability district, the pavilion contains 6,000 square metres of exhibition spaces that are largely embedded in the ground.
These spaces are covered with earth roofs and shaded by a giant tree-like canopy made from 97 per cent recycled steel that supports more than 1,055 solar panels.
It is sheltered by a large tree-like structure
Informed by the drought-tolerant Ghaf Tree, this angled, oval-shaped canopy is supported on a central column.
The structure forms a key part of the studio's strategy to create a building that is self-sufficient in both water and electricity.
It is topped with solar panels
The solar panels on the main canopy, along with eighteen smaller, rotating Energy Trees that surround it, are expected to generate four gigawatt hours of electricity annually.
Grimshaw's Sustainability Pavilion was also designed to reuse 100 per cent of the water it uses.
The canopy provides shade for the buildings containing the exhibitions. Photo by Tom Ravenscroft
The main canopy acts as a collection area for stormwater and dew, while further water is captured in smaller water trees surrounding the main structure.
Also surrounding the main building are a series of gardens planted to create a water-efficient landscape that is used to filter, supply and recycle water.
"Key to our design approach was developing a ranked matrix of project and place-based potential, leading the team to prioritise designs, which will have the greatest potential to yield positive transformational change for our client and the communities in which the project is situated," explained the studio.
"For this project, we can point to both the combination of passive design strategies, energy efficiency optimizations and on-site energy generation, as well as the on-site water reuse as the key prioritizations."
Gardens surrounding the pavilion contain Energy Trees. Photo is by Tom Ravenscroft
The pavilion is arranged around the column supporting the tree-like canopy. An open courtyard is wrapped around the column, with the exhibition spaces contained in a series of concrete structures embedded in the ground.
The external walls of the exhibition halls were constructed from gabion walls filled with stone from the Hajar Mountains.
Exhibits show natural environments and demonstrate the impact humans are having
The pavilion's immersive exhibitions were designed by New York-based designers Thinc in collaboration with the Eden Project.
In the galleries, visitors will be taken on a journey into the world's forests and sea and be shown the impact humans are having on the world.
After the expo, the pavilion will become a museum
The pavilion was built for Emirati real estate development company Emaar Properties and will contain exhibits focused on sustainability throughout the six-month expo.
Following the event, the building will be converted into a permanent museum dedicated to science and sustainability.
The Dubai Expo is the latest World Expo – an international exhibition designed to showcase architecture and innovation.
Dutch practice V8 Architects has created a pavilion with its own enclosed water, energy and food system and a leave-no-trace philosophy as the Netherlands' contribution to Expo 2020 Dubai.
Located in the Expo's sustainability district, the Dutch Biotope pavilion features an integrated water, energy and food system, with technology that extracts water from the desert air and uses it to irrigate an 18-metre-high "food cone" covered with edible plants.
The Dutch Biotope pavilion centres on a plant-covered "food cone"
It also creates a cool microclimate within the cone for mushrooms to grow, with colourful solar panel skylights providing the energy to power the whole system.
V8 Architects designed the pavilion to provide "hope in the desert" that technology can provide sustainable ways of living, even in arid conditions.
Water harvested from the desert air is used to irrigate the plants
The practice's other key goal was to ensure all of the building materials could be reused or returned to the earth, and the plot returned to its original state.
"Being in the Sustainability District, the thing that we really focused on is trying to completely minimise our footprint and make it as sustainable as possible," V8 Architects associate architect David Spierings told Dezeen.
The harvested water also falls as rain within a cool microclimate inside the cone
"And of course, being a temporary pavilion, it was really one of the most important things to us that everything would be taken away again, and that the footprint would be as low as possible," he added.
The pavilion combines inventions from different Dutch designers and technology companies. The water harvesting system is by SunGlacier and works by causing condensation on a cooled metal plate, creating drops of water.
Colourful stained-glass-like solar panels power the pavilion's food and water systems
This happens within the food cone, at the bottom of a four-metre pit where it is naturally cooler and darker.
In this cave-like space inside the cone, the harvested water falls as rain on visitors – approximately 800 litres of it on a good day, according to V8 Architects.
The solar panels allow coloured, patterned light into the space at wavelengths that support photosynthesis
The water is then used to irrigate the plants on the outside of the cone and is purified into drinking water for guests.
In the cool space inside the cone, dozens of kilos of oyster mushrooms grow and are harvested daily, while on the outside of the cone there are more than 9,000 edible plants, including asparagus, basil and mint.
Mushrooms are grown in the cool microclimate inside the food cone
The pavilion walls are made of steel piling that will be returned to local contractors after the Expo and reused
They are made from a new organic thin film technology that works differently to older rooftop solar panels. According to van Aubel, they pay back the energy it takes to produce them in just a couple of months.
The architecture of the pavilion is not intended to be a visual spectacle but to support its function as a "harvesting machine" and to reinforce the sustainability message.
V8 Architects built the pavilion largely from steel hired from locally based companies that will be reused once the expo is over. The walls are made from steel sheet piling and the roof from steel tubes, while concrete was avoided in the pavilion foundations.
"The whole foundation of the building is made out of steel, which I think is unique in the UAE," said Spierings. "Because normally they would cast concrete and we really had to push hard to get this done with the authorities."
The space features bio-based materials such as a curtain made of maize that has been turned into a textile
Sand excavated from the site is used for filling the double sheet piling and as a temporary insulation material, and will be used to fill the plot back in again after the Expo.
The facade is made from an inflatable ETFE film, while the floor surface is created from reusable paving mats and the desert ground.
The pavilion also includes a VIP lounge
V8 Architects plans to leave the plot exactly as they found it at the close of the Expo, with all materials either returned to the local construction industry or given a new purpose elsewhere.
Some of the materials used in the pavilion's interior are bio-based and can be eventually returned to the earth.
The floor surface is created from reusable paving mats
Projections and soundscapes complete the visitor experience
The pavilion also featuring floor and wall elements made using a material with a mushroom mycelium basis by Italian studio Mogu.
As well as the main exhibition space, the Dutch Biotope pavilion incorporates an auditorium, VIP lounge, restaurant, shop and back offices, across a total floor area of 3,727 square metres.
The pavilion is intended to inspire visitors to think about how we can live sustainably
The pavilion's elements are tied together by spatial experience design studio Kossmanndejong, which, according to co-founder Mark de Jong, wanted to "tell the building's story in a poetic and sensorial way".
To complement the feel of the dropping temperature and the smell of the oyster mushrooms, the studio produced visual projects, music and soundscapes, and even mushroom croquettes to engage visitors' tastebuds.
The pavilion is located within the sustainability district at Expo 2020 Dubai
"We really hope to inspire people and to make them understand what sustainability is about," said Spierings.
"And the things that we're showcasing here about uniting water, energy and food – I would be very happy if people understand this thing."
Client: Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Netherlands Enterprise Agency Pavilion construction and main contractor: Expomobilia MCH Live Marketing Solutions AG Visitor experience: Kossmanndejong Integrated installation and construction engineering: Witteveen+Bos Circular principles and climate concept: Aardlab Circular food system and oyster mushrooms: SIGN Design solar panels: Marjan van Aubel Studio Design bio-textile curtain: Buro Belen Design and production mycelium wall panels and floor tiles: MOGU Water from air technology programme: SunGlacier Team: Rudolph Eilander, Michiel Raaphorst, David Spierings, Jeroen van Rijen Egle Kalonaityte, Jekaterina Balysuk, Emilia Serowiec, Bob Robertus
This means architectural careers such as architects, town planning officers, and technicians rank as number one in the study's list of the 25 most elite occupations in the UK.
The report also found that class-based exclusion is more prominent in the creative industries than in other sectors of the economy, with other creative occupations ranking in the top 25 most elite including artists, journalists and musicians.
Architecture sector "dominated by the privileged"
"Creative occupations such as architects; journalists and editors; musicians; artists; and producers and directors are, in fact, as dominated by the privileged as doctors, dentists, lawyers and judges," the report states.
"They are even more elite than management consultants and stockbrokers," it continues.
The report also found that in 2020, those from privileged backgrounds were twice as likely to be employed in the creative industries as those from working-class backgrounds (9.8 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively.)
A graphic from the report revealing architecture as the most privileged industry, courtesy of the PEC and Green-Doe Graphic Design
The Social Mobility in the Creative Economy report was carried out by Heather Carey, Dave O'Brien and Olivia Gable as part of a three-year programme led by the Policy & Evidence Centre (PEC) exploring class in the creative industries.
In the report, privilege is defined as people who had at least one parent who worked in a "higher or lower managerial, administrative or professional occupation" when they were age 14.
This references the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (NS-SEC), which clusters various occupations together into eight groups. The report considers those who belong to groups I or II, which includes doctors, CEOs and lawyers, to be privileged.
One in four creative roles filled by working class
The report also states that in 2020 just one in four people working in the creative industries sector were from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and this has remained largely unchanged since 2014.
This means that the UK's creative industries would need to employ 250,000 more working-class people to become as socio-economically diverse as the rest of the economy.
The UK’s #CreativeIndustries would need to employ 250,000 more working-class people to be as socio economically diverse as the rest of the economy. This deficit is equivalent to size of creative workforce in Scotland, Wales & NI combined.
New researchhttps://t.co/eOgaPppU62
1/5 pic.twitter.com/TYCpG3jVwq
— Creative Industries Policy & Evidence Centre (PEC) (@CreativePEC) September 9, 2021
A graphic showing the difference in socio-economic diversity between the creative industries and the rest of the economy
"To put this figure in perspective, this deficit is greater in scale than the size of
the creative workforce in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined," the report states.
As such, the authors of the report have also called on the government and industry to adopt a 10-point plan to establish a socially inclusive creative economy.
Recommendations include prioritising creating fair foundations for success and widening access to higher education, eliminating unpaid internships and accelerating the progression of diverse talent.
This was prompted by an analysis of the architecture studios featured in the Architecture Foundation's 2016 book New Architects 3, which found that just 45 per cent of their founders had been to state schools.
Harper, who is also a Dezeen columnist, said that "Succeeding in architecture practice is more elitist than the most elite university in the world."
The main image is by Daniel McCullough via Unsplash.
Dezeen Showroom: workplace furniture brand Narbutas has created three noise minimisers designed to control the sound and appearance of a room.
The Acoustic Artwork collection includes three acoustic products, called Partitions, Clouds and Tiles, which can be mounted on the wall or ceiling.
The collection includes Partitions
Available in a series of dynamic colours, the collection aims to provide attractive solutions to controlling the acoustics of office space while not compromising on aesthetics.
The partitions are designed to separate various working environments such as areas intended for meetings or socialising.
Acoustic Clouds hang from the ceiling and muffle noise
The Acoustic Partitions in the collection "are walls that speak for themselves" and are designed to manage the flow of movement in an office.
Owing to their name, the Acoustic Clouds hang from ceilings like chandeliers and efficiently absorb ambient sounds.
The Acoustic Tiles are also built to minimise unnecessary noise and come in five different shapes and a selection of sizes in order to cater to various office-based needs.
PET aims to be a sustainable material
Narbutas is committed to creating sustainable products. All of its acoustic noise minimisers are made from PET, which uses more than 50 per cent recycled plastic.
About Dezeen Showroom:Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.
Dezeen Showroom is an example of partnership content on Dezeen. Find out more about partnership content here.
In many countries, an architecture degree is the first step in becoming a qualified architect.
Courses typically last three or four years, with a further three or four years of study and work experience required to become fully qualified. Others choose to seek employment after graduating.
Launched on Monday, Dezeen Courses is a new resource for people who want to study architecture and design.
It presents details of undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses, as well as short courses and remote learning programmes.
Here are eight undergraduate architecture courses from Dezeen Courses:
Architecture BSc (Hons) at Queen's University Belfast
The Architecture BSc (Hons) course at Queen's University Belfast in the UK equips students with a thorough knowledge of architectural theory and design principles.
Architecture BA (Hons) at University of Huddersfield
The RIBA-accredited Part 1 Architecture BA (Hons) course at University of Huddersfield in the UK encourages students to tackle contemporary design challenges and develop visualisation skills.
Bachelor of Architectural Design at Monash University
The Bachelor of Architectural Design course at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, is taught in the style that real-world architecture firms function in, equipping students with transferable design skills.
Interior Design Environment Architectures BA (Hons) at Ravensbourne University London
The Interior Design Environment Architectures BA (Hons) course at Ravensbourne University London in the UK gives students the opportunity to study both interior design and architecture while mastering conceptual and hands-on design skills.
Architecture BSc (Hons) at University of East London
The Architecture BSc (Hons) course at University of East London in the UK prepares students to enter the discipline as socially and environmentally conscious architects with strong theoretical and practical knowledge.
Architecture BA (Hons) at Ravensbourne University London
The Architecture BA (Hons) course at Ravensbourne University London in the UK encourages students to develop their own creative vision and refine their design skills.
The Architecture BA (Hons) course at Bath Spa University in the UK equips students with architectural skills for social, cultural and environmental change.
Dezeen Courses is a service from Dezeen that provides details of architecture, interiors and design courses around the world. Click here for more information.
