Expo 2020 to premiere Sustainability Pavilion from Jan. 22

Our Correspondent

As Dubai gets ready for Expo 2020, a Pavilions Premiere has been launched and will offer visitors an opportunity to experience Terra – The Sustainability Pavilion, when it opens to the public from January 22 to April 10, 2021.

The Pavilions Premiere is a limited-time opportunity for visitors to preview Expo 2020’s Thematic Pavilions. It will provide a glimpse of what to expect when Expo 2020 Dubai – the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region – welcomes the world from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022.

World Expos are platforms for collaboration, innovation and inspiration, and Expo 2020 will welcome more than 200 participants and millions of visitors.

Terra – The Sustainability Pavilion will be thrown open to the public from January 22, while Alif – The Mobility Pavilion and Mission Possible – The Opportunity Pavilion will follow. Timed-entry reservation for the Pavilions Premiere can be made online from January 16 at Click here. Each visit will cost AED 25. Walk-in tickets will not be available.

The experience will be available five days a week from 3-9 p.m. from Tuesdays to Thursdays, and 4-10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. There will be capacity restrictions owing to pandemic-induced health and safety precautions.

Visitors to Terra can also enjoy the unique surrounding public spaces which include a children’s playground, gift shop, and dining. Terra means ‘Planet Earth’, so it will offer an immersive journey through the wonders of the natural world. There will be an interactive walk through the roots of the forest, where every footstep affects the ‘wood-wide-web’. Uncovering the hidden harmful impacts of our choices, the emotive experience is designed to encourage visitors of all ages, and the younger generation in particular, to consider how their behaviour impacts the environment and break the cycle of consumerism, empowering them to become agents of change.

The iconic pavilion, designed by the world-renowned Grimshaw Architects, is an example of sustainable building design. Built to be net-zero for both energy and water, it features 1,055 photovoltaic panels arranged on a 130-metre-wide roof canopy and atop a series of ‘Energy Trees’. The pavilion also uses cutting-edge water-reduction strategies, water recycling and alternative water sources. Terra will remain in legacy as a Science Centre that will inspire sustainable choices for generations to come.