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Following a seven months long design competition in which 9 of the top architecture firms of the time submitted their proposals, the UAE, hosts of the Dubai Expo 2020, selected Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava to build their pavilion. The building sits at the heart of the 500 acre exhibition area, with 8000 square meters of exhibition space where visitors were immersed in the history of the emirates, which were also celebrating its 50 years of existence when the Expo took place. The visitor’s experience starts at the gardens, where a variety of local flora and a mechanism of flowing water create an oasis-like feeling under the unforgiving sun of Dubai. Once inside the pavilion visitors can learn about the history of the Emirates, starting at a large underground exhibition space where sand from the nearby desert was used to project historic images, followed by an animation movie projected at the moving spheric theater which is the heart of the pavilion. After learning about the history of
