The Viennese architecture office querkraft prevailed its design for the Austrian Pavilion for the EXPO 2020 in Dubai. The bold design combines traditional building materials with modern techniques and presents Austria as a center of innovation in the heart of Europe. The Expo in Dubai from October 20, 2020 to April 10, 2021, with its main topic of "Connecting Minds, Creating the Future" is the first world exhibition in an Arab country in the 170-year Expo history.
Austria makes sense
In a time where huge amounts of information create misleading answers for complex issues, the Austrian Pavilion focuses on the framework of innovations. Instead of giving answers, it concentrates on asking questions. The Austrian Pavilion provides the necessary space to engage in the dialogue about essential topics for a better world and a more empathic life together. The Austrian Pavilion focuses on the question: "How can the given ressources be used more thoughtful and respectful in the future?“
Ecological sustainability
A calm and sensual space is created through a network of 38 intersecting cones. The dialogue between local building traditions and intelligent austrian climate engineering is seen as an opportunity. It enables conventional air conditioning technology to be largely avoided, saving three quarters of the energy needed for a comparable building, and thus making a big contribution to the energy debate. Through the careful use of local building materials, prefabrication and subsequent reuse of the pavilion, a sustainable attitude towards our throwaway society is demonstrated.
Invites visitors to linger
The haptic structure of the clay plaster on the inside conveys natural comfort. The cone shapes easily develop an aestetic between light and shadow that invites the visitor to linger and explore, contradicting the hectic environment of an expo.
