Azerbaijan Pavilion at Expo 2021 in Dubai, UAE

Customer Project

15 August 2022

001248

The 'Azerbaijan Pavilion' was an eye-catcher at Expo 2021 in Dubai. Simmetrico network and iDeas were responsible for the architecturally valuable design. Among other things, Dlubal customer Rubner Ingenieurholzbau created the structural analysis and design and constructed the complex glued-laminated timber structure at its own site.

Customer	Republic of Azerbaijan
Artistic Design and Project Coordination	Simmetrico
Creative Project & Architectural Design	Simmetrico network in cooperation with iDeas
Integrated Design, Project & Site Management	Simmetrico network in cooperation with SCE Project and iDeas
Structural Analysis & Design, Production, Assembly	Rubner Holzbau GmbH www.rubner.holzbau.com

Model Data Tree

Model

Model | Glued-Laminated Timber Pavilion

Structure

The pavilion consists of three structures: a tree, an agora and a footbridge. The tree consists of elements creeping from the bottom to the top, which, in addition to the trunk, also imitate roots and branches. The agora at the foot of the tree forms the entrance to the pavilion. It consists of horizontal components at a height of 5 m. A footbridge 'floats' above the agora, providing access to the pavilion.

The tree structure consists of a total of 114 arches with bending radii of up to 3 m. It was a challenge to create the bending radius of the branches and meet the structural requirements at the same time. For this reason, it was decided to use 15 mm plate fins when manufacturing the elements. Each individual element has been designed, dimensioned and produced in accordance with the project requirements so it can be transported in containers from the Rubner site in Brixen, Italy to the construction site of the Expo, where it can be precisely assembled.

Due to the special processing of each individual element and its ingenious shape, the agora gives the impression of movement. The aim was to create a continuity for the whole and therefore, a suitable material was sought. From the variety of Rubner products, the choice fell on Nordpan panels, which allowed achieving an aesthetically and structurally excellent result.

The footbridge contains more than 210 elements with a radius of approximately 1.3 m. They form the 'ribs' of the footbridge, while each of the 44 lateral support beams connected to the steel structure has a specific curvature along its length of approximately 2 m. 6 central elements with a maximum length of approx. 7.6 m complete the structure.

Despite all the difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the 'Azerbaijan Pavilion Expo 2021' project was completed in time and an architecturally extremely demanding structure was implemented at the same time.