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 tre...