i-Mesh Expo 2020 Dubai canopies, Werner Sobek UAE Fabric Design Project Photos
i-Mesh Expo 2020 Dubai canopies design
26 October 2021
Design: Werner Sobek

Unveiled – the canopies of Expo 2020 Dubai designed by Werner Sobek, made with an innovative textile fiber.
i-Mesh Expo 2020 Dubai Canopy
New fabric for architecture. 2.7 kilometers of retractable textile surfaces provide 52,500 square meters of lightness and technology, acting as a screen between land and sky: i-Mesh, a Made in Italy technical fabric, allows the realization of a highly-performing cover for Expo’s promenade.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates | A high-tech, green, textile material, defined by the strength and flexibility of the fibers, softness and well-calibrated weight.
It is called i-Mesh the material used by German studio Werner Sobek to cover the Expo 2020 Dubai promenade: 2.7 km of Made in Italy technical fabric for architecture, for a total area of 52,500 square meters.

It can be called soft architecture: an ethereal, translucent “cloud” hanging between land and sky that protects from the heat during the day and transforms into a projection screen at night. The i-Mesh fabric – better performing, more sustainable, and more versatile for the local climate – features the distinctive patterns of a modern “Mashrabiya”, the latticework traditionally used in the architecture of Arab countries.

Alberto Fiorenzi, the founder of i-Mesh, started from his experien...