Singapore’s pavilion rewarded at Expo 2020

A rainforest in the desert: this is the concept of the Singapore pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai. "Nature, Nurture, Future" is the title of the project of the architecture studio WOHA, which on 30 March 2022 received the gold award from the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE). With its 80.000 plants, the building recalls a natural oasis, where vegetation contributes to reducing the surrounding temperature up to 10 degrees, without air conditioning systems. The pavilion represents a meeting point between technology and nature, created with the aim of achieving the minimum environmental impact.

In fact, the project sees the installation of 517 solar panels that provide the necessary energy, while the water from the underground is taken and desalinated by an on-site plant. In this way, through a process of reverse osmosis it is possible to meet different needs, such as irrigation and fogging, thus obtaining a closed-loop water system. As reported by the dedicated website, the pavilion concretizes the "city of the future", demonstrating that a built environment can equally coexist with nature and people, even in a desert context. This work is also a symbol of the sustainable direction that Singapore itself has taken, by using a conscious design and smart solutions applied to the urban context.