Steel skeleton structure in a membrane skin
Luxembourg’s Expo Pavilion in Dubai
© Steve Troes Fotodesign
Make it 2022 rather than 2000: After six month’s duration, the Expo 2020 in Dubai closed its doors in March. Luxembourg presented itself at the international exhibition with a completely white membrane-clad structure designed by Metaform Architects in the form of an intertwined endless Möbius strip.
© Steve Troes Fotodesign
“Achieving a swift flow of visitors through the building was one of the greatest challenges” remark the architects in describing the brief. The pavilion is thus accessed via a ramp that leads inside between membrane-clad walls, after which visitors spiral upwards past a five-part exhibition sequence symbolizing five characteristics of the country by presenting it as a varied, obliging, sustainable, enterprising and beautiful place.
The exhibition, designed by Jangled Nerves, brings Luxemburg to life in an accessible scenography, whereby the parametrically generated shaping of the building shell helps prevent breaks between the individual sections. A slide at the end of the circuit takes visitors back down to the ground floor and the exit.
© Steve Troes Fotodesign
To underscore the symbolism of the building, the architects worked together with the light designer Ulrike Brandi to illuminate the facade with a strip of warm light that meanders slowly over the surface, tracing a Möbius strip in shape.
© Steve Troes Fotodesign
© Steve Troes Fotodesign
Lorem Ipsum: Zwischenüberschrift
Die Tragstruktur der Gebäudehülle basiert auf einer Gitterschale aus Stahl-Rundrohren, über die zum Teil ein- und zum Teil beidseitig eine Glasfasermembran gespannt war. Das Stahlskelett war für die Architekten ein weg, um wie in der Ausschreibung verlangt mindestens 70% wiederverwendete oder recycelte Materialien für den Pavillon zu verwenden.
Dies ist eine Bildunterschrift
The building’s supporting structure is based on a gridshell built of round steel tubing, over areas of which fibreglass membrane is stretched on either one or both sides. For the architects the steel skeleton frame was a way of fulfilling the tender’s requirement that at least 70 % of the pavilion’s materials were to be reused or recycled ones. This specification was more difficult to fulfill regarding the fiberglass membrane, but the manufacturer agreed to take it back and re-use it after the Expo.
Architecture: Metaform Architects
Client: GIE Luxembourg @ Expo2020Dubai
Location: Expo 2020 Dubai (AE)
Partner architects on site: WME Consultants
Structural engineering: AuCARRE
Building services engineering: Goblet Lavandier & Associés
Exhibition design: Jangled nerves
Lighting design: Ulrike Brandi Licht
Gallery
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