STATUS
IDEA
CLIENT
EXPO 2020
TYPOLOGY
Culture
SIZE M2/FT2
20,000 / 215,280
SHARE
Al Wasl Plaza will be the heart of the 2020 Dubai World Exhibition as well as the center of the future community of the legacy neighborhood. During the day it will serve to shade thousands of visitors as they congregate at the center of the Expo between visits to the plethora of pavilions. At night it will become the arena for the rich program of performances and spectacles that will take place every night during the expo.
The Al Wasl site is of a comparable scale to landmark squares across the world familiar to every culture and religion ranging from the Arc de Triomphe to the Colosseum. From the Piazza San Pietro in Rome to the Al-Masjid al-Haram Mosque in Mecca. During the celebrations surrounding the 2020 Dubai Worlds Fair it will be the gathering place for
people of all Nations, all Religions, all Languages, all Cultures. Can we imagine a space that can set the stage for 20,000 people spectacles and also provide the framework for individual families? Al Wasl will be collective yet intimate, public yet personal. Al Wasl Plaza is the ultimate symbol of the spirit of the Worlds Fair, representing unity from plurality – out of many we come together.
The plaza will consist of two overlapping spaces. One space is conceived like a contemporary interpretation of the Souk, the vast shaded public space where people gather during the day. Tall slender columns mushroom at the top forming a continuous canopy of interconnected disks. Like light filtering through the leaves of the trees, daylight will seep through the gaps through the canopy above. Each disc is tilted towards the center, rising towards the perimeter – the result is a shaded square – opening up to receive visitors from all directions.
Above, the many disks come together to form a single bowl: an arena for nocturnal performances. The extroverted invitation on the ground forms an introverted focus at the top.
A 360 degree arena created by a sea of individual disks collectively forming a single united venue. Like a field of lily pads each individual disk serves to seat a couple of
hundred individuals. Like an archipelago of individual islands uniting to form a single destination. People will access the spectator stands through the gaps from the square below. The central stage will be built on hydraulic pistons allowing it to emerge from below fully set for the next performance. The ascension of the stage becomes the ultimate
reveal, and ambient light glowing from between the disks making the audience feel as if they are floating in a sea of light.
SITE
— Al Wasl presents a plaza of huge proportion, 150 m in diameter and 17,600
m2 in area. The pavilion site is modest in scale, almost 10,000 m2 in size.
PERIMETER
— A 10 m offset from the site surrounding buildings to create a clear ring of
perimeter circulation that offers breathing space when arriving from the
multiple concourses and a promenade for people movement around the
central plaza.
STAGE & ARENA
— The brief calls for an arena to hold 20,000 people and a stage of about 500 m2. The area can be flat or elevated but the public circulation within the plaza should be unobstructed during non-event times.
ELEVATED AMPHITHEATER
— BIG proposes to elevate the spectator seating to liberate the plaza circulation at ground level. This keeps the public concourse completely free for people
traffic at all times.
SHADING
— The elevated spectator area is defined by a series of circular islands that
radiate from the central stage in a systematic arrangement that echoes the
Expo motif. The combined geometry creates an all-encompassing canopy
over the plaza, presenting an elegant shading structure above the market
activity of Al Wasl that filters daylight to the cooler and gentler climate
below.
OPTIMIZED SEATING
— The seating area follows a spherical section with the lowest point at the
stage and the highest at the furthest edge of the stepped bleachers. This
creates the ideal theatrical bowl and optimizes lines of site for the 360°
panoramic viewing audience.
HYDRAULIC STAGE
— The moveable stage the heart of Al Wasl transports actors and scenery
up to performance level at show time - the reveal of the set enhancing
audience anticipation, suspense and drama.
VISUAL CONNECTION
— To reinforce the synergy between pavilion and plaza we propose to use the same architectural language for both sites. The pavilion is inspired by the form of Al Wasl and is conceptually derived from an inverted spatial geometry. 7 circular discs are combined to create an intimate space,
adjacent to the vast open range of the plaza and raised auditorium.
VISION PAVILION + AL WASL
— The two structures are similar in formal expression but contrasting in scale
and composure. Al Wasl is an inviting urban plaza with a bustling ground
plane that is perfectly shaded from the hot desert sun. It offers amazing
vistas over the site at higher levels on top of the canopy and hosts the
spectacle of events at the heart of Expo. Simultaneously, the intimately
scaled Vision Pavilion sits quietly next to the marvel of Al Wasl. It offers a
serene, tranquil environment for contemplation and reflection, manifest by
its introverted sense of enclosure and hidden gem at the center – the lush
green respite of the desert oasis.
The Special Pavilion is conceived as a cluster of 7 individual pavilions uniting to form a single space. The disks lean against each other and rise from the ground like sand dunes framing a central oasis, the secret garden at the heart of the pavilion. The disks form a single shell structure covering a column free space below.
Bjarke Ingels Brian Yang Anders Kofod Lucian Mihail Racovitan Philip Rufus Knauf Rahul Girish Xin Chen
COLLABORATORS
AKT II
Systematica
Atelier Brueckner
Luechiger + Meyer
