Dubai Expo, Hungarian Pavilion

Architect: Lőrinc Csernyus
Text: György Szegő
Photos: Bence Csernyus

Organised in 2021, the Dubai World Exhibition 2020 kept the original concept introduced in 1851, which means that it addresses the major global issues as the showcase of nations with national pavilions. Architect Lőrinc Csernyus was inspired by the oeuvre of Imre Makovecz and his Seville project when working on the Hungarian Pavilion. It is actually a dual shell house with an emphatically exposed timber structure and interior dome space; its second outer „skin” is the facework and a crown structure. A spiral ramp tapered upward guides the visitors’ attention towards the sky between the dome and the crown-wreath upward. The exclusively timber-structured pavillion functions as a warning parable: a nice and soft warning is echoed against the roar of numerous and gigantic, imposingly tragic dystopian urbanism of Dubai and the United Arab Emirates using exclusively water technology concrete structures that are hard to degrade. The exterior shell reflects the extreme temperatures of the location with scarcely applied glass expanses, whilst the use of glass facades is also harmfully overused in modern contemporary architecture. This pavilion is environmentally friendly, its construction and operation is economically using water and energy. Its sustainable and thus ecological message is not only conveyed by the images of contents, but also by the technology of the construction and the materials used.

Leading architect: Lőrinc Csernyus
Architects: Balázs Váradi, Márton Tóth
Fellow architects: Endre Salap, Luisa Tolentino, Mátyás Fridrik, Bence Várnai
Interiors: Márton Tóth
Fellow interior designers: Luisa Tolentino, Endre Salap
Exhibition visualization: Lin Szu, András Szurdi, Linda Szurdi
Structure: László Pongor
HVAC: László Szalóky
Electrical engineering: Dávid Sándor
Landscape, garden: Mónika Buella
Structural expert: Péter Laufer
Fire protection: Ferenc Végh
Acoustics: László Borbás
Elevator: Zsolt Makovsky