• Dubai, UAE, UAE
- Architectural Design: Christian Kerez
- Surface area : 2000 m²
- Project year : 2021
- Photographer: Maxime Delvaux
- Project Architect : Bartosz Bukowski
- Project Team: Caio Barboza, Giovanni Dorici, Kacper Karpinski, Zhekun Tang, Zexu Chen
- Column connection script: Alden Studios
- General Contractor: Rimond Middle East General Contracting LLC
- Lighting Design: Studio Siegrun Appelt with Mathias Burger
- City : Dubai, UAE
- Country : United Arab Emirates
From the architect. The Kingdom of Bahrain Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai is a hall with a floor area of 900 square meters and a height of approximately 23 meters. Normally, columns and beams connect the building spaces horizontally and vertically, but the columns of the Bahrain Pavilion are presented in various unfathomable directions, penetrating the walls and ceilings and ending on the exterior of the building. The window position presented in the hall plan is a pure result of the geometric arrangement of the columns.
At the same time, the light source hints at the load-bearing structure of the pavilion and strengthens the connection between the surrounding walls and columns. The sloping columns meet repeatedly in the space, and the architect welds together those that meet. This approach, relative to the actual dimensions of the space, greatly reduces the flexion length of the columns, which in turn allows the entire pavilion to be supported and reinforced only by standard 11 cm diameter filigree steel. The walls are framed by a 14 cm thin U-profile frame, which together with the standard steel of the filigree form a complete structural system.
Overall, the thin steel columns are particularly dense in the pavilion space, and the careful placement and light relationship are always surprising as visitors weave through the interior. At first glance, the support structure of the pavilion seems to be evenly distributed everywhere, but it is repeatedly opened and closed in the vast field of view of the entire space. In addition, dense column areas alternate with open areas that are completely unsupported.
The open view of the entire pavilion is complemented by an infinite variety of additional views, as the visitor's eyes repeatedly sweep through the light slits along the supports to all corners of the room, to the walls of the hall and beyond. The frame of the enclosure wall is covered by a thin, stretchable aluminum plate that breaks down the boundary into a multi-reflective state. The outer cladding also reproduces the thin frame mesh beneath it by reflecting a slightly curved surface.
For most buildings, the sole purpose of the support system is to support, but in the Bahrain Pavilion, the support system has also become a way of spatial definition, an architectural event and a spatial experience that cannot be easily interpreted. It is not illustrative, but has an unusual, futuristic spatial effect. While the pavilion does not explicitly mention the Kingdom of Bahrain, it echoes through open associated areas such as the types of floor plans of Muharraq's ancient palaces and their introverted living spaces, as well as Bahrain's dense and irregular traditional ornaments, to the state-of-the-art technology used in Formula One.
The Bahrain Culture and Antiquities Authority, under the auspices of H.E. Sheikha Mai Bint Mohammed Al-Khalifa and Noura Al Sayeh, has linked the pavilion to the buildings an Anne Holtrop designed for the Milan Expo, believing that the importance of architecture lies not only in being an object-like symbol, but above all in the unique architectural and spatial experience it brings to visitors. The pavilion will also be rebuilt in Manama, Bahrain's modern business hub, in full compliance with the spirit of sustainability.