Majlis for Expo 2020 Dubai by AGi architects are a set of urban living rooms conceived as human scale places. Given the immensity of the Expo site, in its relationship with users they aim to show hospitality as a symbol of the UAE character.
More than 80 colored playful structures have formed a public network of socialization spaces throughout the exhibition area, ensuring the cohesion of the public space as a place for visitors to Expo 2020. Based on this same concept design, a pavilion prototype called Sameem has also been developed. In it, visitors can discover the essence of the three different cultures present in the Emirates for millennia in their settlements on the coast, the mountains and the desert.
Majlis as an example of circular economy
Majlis represent Arab hospitality towards the rest of the world, but also their commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and economic efficiency. They have been conceived as useful
elements, easily transformable and transportable.
They are designed so that, once Expo 2020 is over, Majlis serve as ambassadors of national values in other places, being an example of the circular economy concepts that have been the conceptual axes of the Expo 2020 proposal “Connecting Minds. Creating the Future”, and its sub-themes “Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability”.
Majlis can assume this task because they are:
- removable: they have been conceived as dismountable system to be easily packed and
transported. - Light: Majlis structures are made of aluminum
- Self-supporting: the structures have their own foundations and rest on the ground, so no
earthworks or excavations will be needed. They are ready for easy assembly and reuse.
- Adaptable to different uses: many of the Majlis designed for Expo 2020 Dubai can be easily reused
to accommodate new functions, such as rest areas, learning areas, medical support facilities, etc. - Climatic spaces: Majlis structures will be easily adaptable to the climatic conditions of their new
destinations, using local knowledge of vernacular architecture adapted to their specific
environments, in an appropriate, simple and economical way. Source by AGi architects.
- Location: Dubai, UAE
- Architect: AGi architects
- Main Architects: Nasser B. Abulhasan & Joaquín Pérez-Goicoechea
- Design team: Lucía Azurmendi, Laura Guinea, Antonio Villodres, Javier del Pozo, Irene García, Marta Lozano, Pedro Moreno, Pablo López
- Site supervision: Samer Mohammad
- Supplier: Kettal
- Client: Expo 2020 Dubai
- Year: 2021
- Photographs: Iñigo Bujedo Aguirre, Courtesy of AGi architects
