DUBAI: Visitors from around the world will be wowed by a German Pavilion that will take them on a unique and exciting educational journey through a ‘world of sustainability’ at Expo 2020 Dubai.
The design of the pavilion and its theme, ‘Campus Germany’, were revealed today at an event in Dubai, attended by Ernst Peter Fischer, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the UAE, Dietmar Schmitz, Commissioner General of the German Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, Najeeb Mohammed Al-Ali, Executive Director, Dubai Expo 2020 Bureau, and other members of the German Pavilion team.
Designed by Cologne-based agency facts and fiction and Berlin-based architects LAVA, Campus Germany will be located in Expo 2020’s Sustainability District. It will feature a ‘vertical campus’ design consisting of separate modules that converge at a spacious atrium with a stage and restaurant, creating an impressive structure that reflects the country’s underlying theme.
A place of knowledge, research and communication, Campus Germany will provide every visitor with their own personalised interactive experience, while showcasing the country’s latest science and technology innovations.
Each visitor’s experience will be delivered by an intelligent assistance system called ‘IAMU’, which will act as an invisible companion to visitors, providing them with information as they move through the pavilion. IAMU technology will be showcased to the world for the first time at Expo 2020 Dubai.
Dietmar Schmitz said: “As two issues high on the regional and global agenda, education and sustainability were important focuses for us when designing Campus Germany for Expo 2020 Dubai.
“Our pavilion concept has been designed to seamlessly combine exhibition and architecture, with a storyline that will grasp visitors’ interest and hold it from start to finish, inviting them to engage with the content and be actively involved in the experience.”
Najeeb Mohammed Al-Ali said: “At Expo 2020 Dubai, we want all our visitors to contribute to making the world a better place, and the German Pavilion will provide a fascinating platform for people to learn, have fun and explore sustainability together.
“We look forward to seeing more compelling pavilion designs and themes revealed by other participating countries as we continue our countdown to Expo.”
Visitors to Campus Germany will begin their journey by ‘enrolling’. After providing basic information such as their name, nationality and preferred language, they will receive an IAMU-enabled badge that will guide them through the pavilion.
Campus Germany’s welcome hall will feature a large pit containing 155,000 balls, each of which will highlight a sustainability champion from Germany or tell its own sustainability-related story. Visitors simply have to select a ball and place it under a scanner to uncover its message.
In line with its modular theme, the pavilion will feature different ‘labs’ for visitors to explore. The Energy Lab, Future City Lab and Biodiversity Lab, for example, will enable people to learn more about Germany’s achievements and innovations in the field of sustainability, while becoming more aware of how their actions affect the environment.
By the end of the journey, each visitor will be awakened to the fact that a collective effort is required to achieve further progress in sustainability, and that there is more that unites humanity than divides it.
The Campus Germany experience will finish with a collective task for visitors that will highlight the importance of collaboration to achieve an end goal, echoing Expo 2020 Dubai’s theme of ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’.
Germany will invest EUR 50 million (AED 213 million) in its Expo 2020 participation, with its 4,500 sqm plot set to be one of the largest of the participating nations on the site.
Expo 2020, the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, will run for six months from 20 October, 2020 to 10 April, 2021.
It is expected to attract 25 million visits, with an unprecedented 70 per cent of visitors projected to come from outside the UAE – the largest proportion of international visitors in the 167-year history of World Expos.
