Expo 2020 Dubai reveals huge entry portals to site
21-m high doors, woven from carbon-fibre strands, are designed by UK architect Asif Khan
Dubai: Three Expo Entry Portals that will welcome millions of visitors from around the world to Expo 2020 Dubai have been revealed with just over 250 days to go until the opening.
Conceived by Expo 2020 in collaboration with British architect Asif Khan and his studio, the portals are a futuristic adaptation of the traditional mashrabiya, a design used across the region to regulate light and airflow.
Ahmad Al Khatib, Chief Development and Delivery Officer, Expo 2020 Dubai, said: “We cannot wait to open our doors to the world on October 20, 2020, and the Expo Entry Portals will provide a wonderful way to welcome millions of people from across the globe to ‘The World’s Greatest Show’, giving a first taste of the amazing architecture and ground-breaking innovation they will experience all around the site.”
The reveal of the Expo Entry Portals follows the release of new drone video footage showcasing the Expo 2020 site, including the completed Al Wasl Plaza. The footage is available for download.
The portals are woven entirely from strands of ultra-lightweight carbon-fibre composite that lend structural strength. This enables the ethereal structures to stand 21m high – taller than a six-storey building – and 30m long without any additional support.
Vast doors
Each portal features two vast doors, 21m and 10.5m wide, that will be opened every morning of the 173 days of Expo 2020 in a symbolic act of welcoming the world. The portals lead to tree-filled arrival courtyards, also designed in collaboration with Khan – one in each of the three Expo 2020 districts: Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability.
Adding to the history of innovative structures from past World Expos, these portals are a future form of architecture inspired by the aesthetics of the region.
Walkable areas
The structures have taken three years to develop and are the first element to be fully revealed from Khan’s design of Expo 2020’s Public Realm, which comprises more than 6km of walkable areas across the site.
Asif Khan, architect of Expo 2020 Dubai’s Public Realm, who has described the Expo Entry Portals as his best work yet, said: “The portals are the first thing you see as you approach the site, so they are a landmark at the beginning and end of your journey at Expo 2020. I would like visitors to Expo, especially children, to be inspired by architecture they have never seen before, and to be excited that it is part of the heritage of the region. Passing through the doors represents a physical and symbolic act of moving from the past into the future.”
The portals will be the first impression of the site upon arrival for the millions of visitors who will attend the first World Expo and largest event ever to be held in the Arab world.