V8 Architects

Dutch Pavilion Dubai

Dutch Pavilion Dubai
© Jeroen Musch

Dutch Pavilion Dubai

V8 Architects

ARCHITECTS
V8 Architects

CLIENT
Ministry Of Foreign Affairs / Netherlands Enterprise Agency

DESIGN OF BIO TEXTILE CURTAIN
Buro Belen

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Rudolph Eilander, Michiel Raaphorst, David Spierings

MAIN CONTRACTOR
Expomobilia Ag

INTERACTIVE VISITOR EXPERIENCES
Kossmanndejong

CIRCULAR PRINCIPLES AND CLIMATE CONCEPT
Aardlab

CIRCULAR FOOD SYSTEM AND OYSTER MUSHROOMS
Sign

DESIGN AND PRODUCTION OF MYCELIUM WALL AND FLOOR TILES
Mogu

CONSTRUCTION
Expomobilia Ag

INTEGRATED INSTALLATION AND CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING
Witteveen+bos

DESIGN OF ROOF LIGHTS
Marjan Van Aubel Studio

PHOTOGRAPHS
Jeroen Musch

AREA
3727 M²

YEAR
2021

LOCATION
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

CATEGORY
Pavilion

The Netherlands pavilion at EXPO 2020 epitomizes the theme chosen by the Netherlands, ‘uniting water, energy and food’. It enables us to show how our country can link sustainable energy, water management, agriculture, and circularity.

Dutch Pavilion Dubai
© Jeroen Musch
Dutch Pavilion Dubai
© Jeroen Musch
Dutch Pavilion Dubai
© Jeroen Musch

The pavilion was designed as a circular climate system, a biotope, and will soon be offering a distinctive visitor experience. It tells the story of the Netherlands' participation in a way that stimulates all of the senses.

Visitors can experience the underlying link between innovative Dutch solutions for water, energy, and food issues. In the pavilion, water is made, energy is generated, and food is harvested.

The Netherlands pavilion is markedly different from the other pavilions: That is because the pavilion itself is the exhibition and user experience.

Dutch Pavilion Dubai
© Jeroen Musch
Dutch Pavilion Dubai
© Jeroen Musch
Dutch Pavilion Dubai
© Jeroen Musch

The pavilion's architecture is a physical representation of the Netherlands’ key message at this international exhibition, namely the inextricable link between water, energy, and food.

A climate system is created using natural phenomena, such as condensation, solar energy, photosynthesis, fungus production, the degree of humidity, and temperature transmission. Water, energy, and food are circularly harvested within this system.

The sensory experience of this, combined with a fantastic visitors’ show by Kossmann De Jong and BIND provides a sensational feeling of the power of nature and Dutch innovations based on nature.

Dutch Pavilion Dubai
© Jeroen Musch
Dutch Pavilion Dubai
© Jeroen Musch
Dutch Pavilion Dubai
© Jeroen Musch

The pavilion has been designed to showcase sustainability and circularity, and it has also been built with these in mind.

All of the materials used will be returned or will gain another purpose at the end. This keeps the carbon footprint of the pavilion as small as possible.

In contrast to the civil engineering nature of the exterior, the interior of the pavilion adds a layer of light and refinement. The materials used in the interior are also reusable, recyclable, or biologically degradable.

Dutch Pavilion Dubai
© Jeroen Musch
Dutch Pavilion Dubai
© Jeroen Musch

In this regard, it features unique innovations such as a bio-based curtain made from biopolymers, especially designed solar panels that generate energy and at the same time supply sunlight to edible plants.

In the VIP lounge, floor tiles and acoustic wall elements have been designed and implemented using a new bio-based building material that is based on mycelium. Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus, that after drying forms the basis of these building products.

Dutch Pavilion Dubai
© Jeroen Musch
Dutch Pavilion Dubai

The pavilion is made with the only material that can be ‘harvested’ locally in addition to sand, namely steel sheet piling. These elements are normally used to create foundation pits for skyscrapers or harbor basins, which we are good at in the Netherlands.

We borrowed all of the construction materials, namely the sheet piling and tubular struts, from the Dutch firm Meever, which also has a branch in Dubai. At the end of Expo 2020, this material will be returned to the local construction industry so that it can be used in new projects. This enables us to keep the pavilion’s carbon footprint ultra-low, and we will leave behind a clear building plot with only desert sand at the end.

Dutch Pavilion Dubai
© Jeroen Musch


Dutch Pavilion Dubai
Plan - Basement
Dutch Pavilion Dubai
Plan - Ground floor
Dutch Pavilion Dubai
Plan - Ground floor
Dutch Pavilion Dubai
Plan - First floor


Dutch Pavilion Dubai
Section - A
Dutch Pavilion Dubai
Section - B
Dutch Pavilion Dubai
Section - C


Dutch Pavilion Dubai
Elevation - East
Dutch Pavilion Dubai
Elevation - South
Dutch Pavilion Dubai
Elevation - West
Dutch Pavilion Dubai
Elevation - North


Dutch Pavilion Dubai
Render
Dutch Pavilion Dubai
Diagram

V8 Architects
T +31 10 4123344
V8 Architects
Vasteland 8, 3011 BK Rotterdam, Netherlands