Architecture studio WOHA has created a plant-filled pavilion covered in a "three-dimensional garden" at Dubai Expo 2020.
Set opposite the Grimshaw-designed Sustainability Pavilion and next door to the Dutch Pavilion in the expo's sustainability district, the Singapore Pavilion was designed to be a nature-filled place of retreat from the bustle of the event.
WOHA designed the Singapore Pavilion at Dubai Expo
"The core concept for the Singapore Pavilion was to create an oasis in the desert, an escape from the hustle and bustle of the expo, where visitors are instinctively drawn to nature," said WOHA director Phua Hong Wei.
"We wanted the pavilion to take visitors on an experiential journey through a three-dimensional garden," he told Dezeen. It was designed as a plant-filled "oasis in the desert"
The building was built around three plant-covered cones that contain a series of exhibition spaces.
Visitors to the pavilion take a route up through the building on a series of walkways that pass through hanging gardens and around and into the cones.
At the top of the building is an open space containing a cafe and sunken auditorium for talks.
Walkways take visitors around three plant-covered cones. Photo by Quentin Sim
WOHA designed the pavilion to demonstrate how planting can be used to reduce the impact of building in the Dubai climate.
"It is a prototype that showcases strategies that are scalable and adaptable, from buildings to ci...