PRESS RELEASE
10.11.2023
EXPO 2023 Doha: Green Dessert, Better Environment
UAE Pavilion – Nurturing Legacy
A pavilion on sustainability: ATELIER BRÜCKNER is responsible for the guest experience “Nurturing Legacy” at the UAE Pavilion at Expo 2023 Doha – a joint project with Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), who designed the architecture and were responsible for the build design as well as for the gardens. The International Horticultural Expo is on show until 28th March 2024. It is the first Expo in the Middle East and North Africa region. Its theme: “Green Desert, Better Environment”. The UAE Pavilion creates opportunities to connect and inspire visitors through multisensory guest experiences, storytelling, and content curation.
The guest experience by ATELIER BRÜCKNER conveys the history of sustainability within the UAE. It focuses on the enduring bond between UAE’s communities and nature, as well as the UAE’s contributions and innovations fostering a shared future through agricultural innovation grounded in values and driven by collaborative stewardship. The experience is divided into three main themes: “Past: Our Roots”, “Present: Our Land”, and “Future: Our Legacy”. It is inspired by the deep roots, intertwined branches of the Ghaf tree, and the strength and resilience it represents.
The pavilion consists of individual polygonal fields, whose surrounding rammed earth walls seem to rise out of the ground; in the outer areas the polygons are low and planted: More than 6,609 plants with groupings of edible plants, fruit trees, medicinal plants and perennials – highlighting species that were both essential for the survival of UAE’s ancestors and plants that now contribute to the goals for a sustainable future.
In the inner area, the polygons are room-high and can be walked on. They form a spatial sequence with a course that leads from the past through the present into the future. Each section features two installations that showcase remarkable stories and innovations by the UAE. It’s about stories of people, projects, and ideas from across the UAE in response to the expo’s core theme set “Green Desert, Better Environment”.
“Early Dreamers” is the first room of the visitor’s journey. A giant root sculpture, a walk-in installation, with a dreamy soundscape demonstrates the deep connection with the land and UAE’s time-honoured tradition. Each root shares a compelling collection of stories and audio pieces that encapsulate the spirit of UAE’s ancestors who sustained life on the land. It's about the stories of early ancestors and their traditional way of nature-bonded life.
“Founding Father and His Fellow Rulers of the Emirates” showcases the powerful stories of UAE’s Founding Father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan’s early agricultural experiments, in nurturing the land. It shows the aid and support provided to experts in cultivation and agricultural education, while also focusing on the global partnerships the UAE entered into in the 1970s and 1980s on food resilience and water security.
"Our Land" is an immersive experience of the UAE's diverse landscape from desert to oasis, to sea, to mountains. The space offers a unique and captivating two-minute experience accompanied by ambient soundscapes, aiming to transport visitors on a sensorial and poetic journey into the heart of UAE’s people and nature in interconnected ecosystems.
The following space called "Our Core" showcases the interconnectedness of the UAE's local, community, institutional and global efforts to promote food and water security. This is demonstrated through agricultural technology solutions, sustainable water resource management systems and research development.
A look into the future takes the installation “Dreamers Who Do”. It represents the agricultural innovations shaping the future in the UAE and the world, while presenting the transformative impact of UAE’s people on agricultural progress for generations to come. There are six three-sides steles presenting projects with a protagonist, one of which is the heat pulse technique with Dr Wafa Faisal Al Yamani. The third side addresses the visitors directly with a reflective question, prompting them to contemplate their contributions toward a brighter tomorrow. “How does my choice today shape my future ahead?”
“Our Legacy” concludes the guest experience, inviting visitors of all ages to engage with the possibilities of the future and help create a better understanding of sustainable and responsible pathways through a tactile, educational, and engaging experience: The space is designed as an intimate garden with plentiful trees through which visitors can roam. In between, analogue interactive stations invite you to leave your answers and contribute to the “our legacy” book. It is a garden for visitors geared towards the future.
The UAE Pavilion is administered by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation and the National Projects Office. Her Excellency Mariam Al Mheiri, the UAE Minister of Climate Change and the Environment, officially inaugurated the UAE Pavilion on the 3rd of October 2023. It is located near the AIPH Pavilion in the International Zone at Al Bidda Park, Doha.
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ATELIER BRÜCKNER is one of the world's leading exhibition designers. 120 employees contribute in an interdisciplinary way to the development of narrative spaces for museums, brand worlds, Expos and visitor centres. Current projects include the Ephesus Experience Museum in Selçuk and the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza. The focus is on conveying content as a sustainable experience. Content and space are conceptualised together.
Opening dates for the UAE Pavilion:
03/10/2023 – 28/03/2024
Sunday – Thursday: 15:00 – 20:00
Friday: 13:00 – 20:00
Saturday: 10:00 – 20:00
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Our Land
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Participation
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Examples Dreamers
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Dreamers Photos
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Pavilion
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Ghaf Tree
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Entrance
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Founding Fathers
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Our Legacy
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CONTACT
ATELIER BRÜCKNER GmbH
Claudia Luxbacher
Press and Public Relations
T. +49 711 5000 77 126
F. +49 711 5000 77 22
presse(at)atelier-brueckner.com