In pictures: Alif - The Mobility Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai

The Mobility Pavilion, named Alif (after the first letter of the Arabic alphabet and symbolising the beginning of progress and new horizons), will demonstrate how mobility has driven mankind’s development throughout our existence – from our humble beginnings to the interconnected world of today and beyond.

The pavilion was designed by award-winning British architectural design and engineering firm Foster + Partners. Its ribbed and curved shape was designed to evoke movement.

Its highly reflective stainless steel cladding was inspired by chrome fenders and aircraft wings. It reflects movement from the surrounding areas making the building seem alive and in motion.

Sustainability was also at the forefront of the design, and the Mobility Pavilion has been designed to LEED Gold standard. It is a self-shading building and its metal cladding reflects heat. Photovoltaic panels on the roof take advantage of solar energy and the landscape design is sensitive to water use.

With 4,368 sqm of event space, the Mobility Pavilion can accommodate up to 2,500 visitors an hour, 30,000 visitors a day and five million visitors over the course of Expo 2020. Current COVID-19 restrictions limit the capacity to 550 visitors per hour.

A partly underground, partly open-air 330-metre track will allow visitors to see cutting-edge mobility devices in action, as well as witness mass produced technology that has the opportunity to vastly improve the quality of life for people in developing countries (e.g. solar-powered tricycles in Africa).

An amphitheatre and a second stage, as well as a piazza surrounding the building, will host mobility-related performances, events, symposiums and demonstrations.

The pavilion demonstrates how people, goods, ideas and data interact in ever more complex ways all over the world. Visitors will proceed through the past, present and future of movement, from ancient exploration to the Emirates Mission to Mars and beyond. They will learn how goods and people are moved around the world and the potential evolution of mobility in the city of the future.

The journey begins 4,500 years ago in Saruq Al Hadid, a settlement in the Dubai desert which had extensive relations with areas in the Gulf, the Levant and West Asia. Visitors are then invited aboard the world’s largest elevator, which takes them to the House of Wisdom in ninth-century Baghdad before going on meet the historical giants of mobility.

Visitors will encounter towering nine-metre-tall photo-realistic figures from the Golden Age of Arab Civilisation – including ancient navigator Ibn Majid and the explorer Ibn Battuta – whose innovations helped navigate the world and paved the way for the technology we use today.

Visitors will encounter towering nine-metre-tall photo-realistic figures from the Golden Age of Arab Civilisation – including ancient navigator Ibn Majid and the explorer Ibn Battuta – whose innovations helped navigate the world and paved the way for the technology we use today.

From there, the Mobility Pavilion visitor experience will move forward in time to the 21st century, and the space explorers pushing new limits of mobility in the modern era. Visitors will then enter a virtual world brimming with data, before stepping into a vision of the city of tomorrow, geared towards optimising our happiness.

Elsewhere in the pavilion, visitors will be shown the incredible progress the UAE has made in mobility-related fields such as airlines, logistics and smart cities, making the country a global leader.

Inextricably linked to the visitor experience is the story of Dubai, and the role the emirate and the UAE have always played in connecting people on a global scale.

Visitors will be shown the incredible progress the UAE has enjoyed in the past 50 years, especially in mobility-related fields such as airlines, logistics and smart cities, extending into the solar system through the UAE’s space programme and the Hope Mission to Mars.

Marjan Faraidooni, Chief Experience Officer, Expo 2020 Dubai, said: “Representing our desire to explore and progress, Alif – The Mobility Pavilion will take visitors on a journey of discovery, exploring new horizons and discovering how making connections, together with developing new technologies, is the basis for human progress.

One of Expo 2020’s signature attractions, Alif – The Mobility Pavilion was made possible through the work of local and international collaborators. The UAE Space Agency and Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center provided expertise and content for the space segment. Global experience design agency MET Studio, decorated New Zealand movie and television creatives Weta Workshop and Academy Award-winning Los Angeles-based experience company Magnopus have also all worked with Expo 2020 to create the pavilion’s inspiring visitor experience.

Bringing the story of global mobility to life in immersive and inspiring ways, the Mobility Pavilion showcases the pivotal role the UAE and the entire Arab world has, and continues, to play in advancing human progress.

A look inside the Alif pavilion. Get hands-on by building your own robot or designing a spaceship. Watch demos of hoverboards and jetpacks. Attend workshops and see technology-inspired performances involving drones and robots. Witness how mobility can vastly improve the quality of life for people in developing countries through vehicles like solar-powered tricycles.

Learn about the complexity of moving goods around the world and how mobility could evolve in the human-centred city of the future.

Check out the pavilion when Expo 2020 kicks off, on October 1.