The Czech Republic Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai

Held every five years, expos see hundreds of countries using pavilions to show off the latest in architecture and technology.

A number of Expo 2020 pavilions in Dubai have already been completed while work on the others is underway. All the country pavilions are expected to be finished well ahead of the mega event’s highly anticipated kick-off on October 1.

The organizers estimate that the EXPO 2020 will have more than 200 participants, as well as multinational companies, educational institutions and non-governmental organizations.

The Czech Pavilion

Consisting of four volumes using a steel frame system, forming the framework of the object, the Czech pavilion draws the attention of the visitors with its “organic cloud structure that grows out from the garden at the place of the cultivated desert”.

Solar-powered technology that can suck water vapour from the air and turn barren deserts into fertile lands will be exhibited. It has tremendous benefits for sunshine-rich nations facing food security issues due to a lack of arable land on which to raise crops.

The restaurant, attached to the central space, can also be linked to the garden or to a multimedia conference hall. In fact, all premises may be combined in a single unit directly attached to an adjacent plaza.

Starting and exiting from the garden, the visitor is exposed to a “prototype of the system permeating the entire pavilion as a mobile container enclosed version, a product that has the potential to change life in desert areas”.

The Czech Pavilion will be located in the “Sustainability” zone on a 2,200 square meter plot of land and, like at the Expo 2015 in Milan, it will be the first pavilion at one of the main entrances to the exhibition site.

Expo 2020 Dubai is sticking to its target of 25 million visits, set prior to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashimy, Minister of State for International Cooperation and Director-General of Expo 2020 Dubai Bureau, hoped that the situation would be much better on October 1, when the six-month-long mega-event begins.

“The world has gone through these galactical shifts over the last year but now with vaccines being rolled out, we believe that the situation will settle by October. We believe the situation will be far more positive by then,” she said in the interview.

The UAE is the second-most vaccinated country in the world after Israel.

• More than 190 countries are taking part, in the first such event to be held in the Middle East
• The Expo is expected to boost Dubai’s economy by $33bn and to create up to 300,000 jobs
• The site covers 4.3sq km, or 613 football pitches, and the Expo will have its own metro station
• Uber will be testing flying cars during the event
• Some 90% of the materials used to in construction will then be used to create permanent buildings afterwards