Expo 2020 Dubai: A look inside the wordless Austria Pavilion

Reed, soil, clay and silt are all the ingredients that helped mould the Austria Pavilion’s 38 cones at Expo 2020 Dubai. Though it lacks air-conditioning, the building is quite pleasant within. The secret? It is the simple yet often overlooked science of wind harnessing architecture. In fact, Helmut Döller, Deputy Commissioner General of the pavilion, tells the media on Tuesday that Querkraft Architekten took inspiration from the Arabian wind towers for the world fair project. So you feel relatively less warm in here because cool air flows in and sinks, while the hot air currents escape from the openings in the cones.

“The guests of this pavilion are the focus, and the technology in here just supports the overall experience,” said Döller. The country’s minimalist approach helps visitors dodge information overload – void of reading material, the pavilion puts on the best of Austria using the five senses of sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste. But also expect to see ‘modern’ hieroglyphs carved into the loam-clad walls, some depicting the renowned Austrian composer Mozart and others the Central Alps. Ars Electronica Solutions’ projection laser beams animate the iconography, turning the walls into a futuristic pictorial presentation – all without words.

In the sight cone, there is a metallic marble that slowly makes its way from the centre out, drawing concentric circles in a sand box. But if you stick around long enough, it rewards you with a variety of patterns, including the complex Expo 2020 logo composed of several loops. One of the world’s oldest building materials, the sand invites people to marvel at the wonders it can create. The ball creates six different patterns in an hour using a magnetic mechanism under the table, so it is completely untethered.

Ever wondered what the air looks like? It looks a lot like smoke, just much lighter, wispier and colourless. You can see it for yourself in the Austria Pavilion. Definitely one for young visitors, this cone projects a digitised composition of the air on to the wall. Walking into it disturbs the circulation, and the currents readjust in real time to make room for you.

Here is a cosy corner where the sharp scent of the Swiss Stone Pine permeates. The tree is hailed as “the Queen of the Alps” for good reason, too – the healing pine can relax the nervous system, improve sleep and calm your heartbeat. A ripple platform carved out of the soft, malleable wood is open for visitors to lie on, rest their feet and rejuvenate surrounded by the aromatic Alps.

Listen to the music you helped compose in the hearing cone. Modling-born musician Rupert Huber’s piano composition welcomes an unusual instrument into the composition. The sounds of metal being struck at a construction site blends in seamlessly with the classical music whenever visitors walk into the cone. Because spatial movement triggers the sound, no two visitors will have created the same piece of music.

The Austria Pavilion is on a mission to collect and synchronise heartbeats. By placing their hands on the ‘Heartbeat’ table, visitors can paint unique patterns behind the glass panel. Grains of sand vibrate with the frequency of each pulse until they form a picture.

Who says coding can’t be fun? Inside the innovative iLab, a section dedicated to spotlighting 53 Austrian innovators, children get to try their hand at programming for free. Block robots made up of colourful parts – motor wheels and the ‘brain’ – whir about the table, waiting for their next command. Young kids can begin by building the robots like Lego, while older children can opt for the step-by-step coding process on interactive screens to control them. Colourful icons make the entire process quick and engaging, and children come to learn the basic principles of engineering and robotics.