Construction work was launched on August 26 on site on Finland’s Pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai.
“We are among the first countries to have started the construction work on their pavilions at the Expo 2020 site,” remarked Severi Keinälä, commissioner-general Finland at Dubai Expo 2020.
“Finland’s Pavilion is inspired by the white blanket of snow that covers the Finnish landscape from autumn onwards,” he added.
The Pavilion resembles a white snow covered tent and takes its inspiration from Finnish nature, design and innovation. The simple, elegant design reflects the fascinating tradition of Finnish architecture. The Finnish pavilion is a meeting space, a tent where connections between Finnish and Arabic minds can be fostered.
From outside the shape is simple but refined. In the middle of pavilion, a dynamic wooden space Gorge is carved into the building, offering Expo visitors a pleasantly cool and shady retreat. The Gorge also relates to the unique Finnish history of innovation, which often requires thinking out of the box, element of surprise. In the pavilion, the surprise is the wooden heart and exhibitions inside. In addition, Finland pavilion is a place representing Finland's closeness to nature and personal exchange, in accordance with the motto of the EXPO 2020 Dubai: Connecting Minds, Creating the Future.
The pavilion will be a metal structure that will be built by Cimolai Rimond Middle East. It will be clad with white fabric and insulated with sandwich panels.
The tender for the construction of the Finland Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai was awarded to the international project team of Expomobilia (Switzerland), JKMM Architects (Finland), Factor Nova (Finland), Beyond Limits (UAE), and Five Currents (US).
Design Team and Concept of the Exhibition
The exhibition design team has been selected with the working group “Symbiosis” consisting of four highly professional companies: Futudesign Oy, Sun Effects Oy, Flatlight Creative and JKMM Architects.
Symbiotic relation between man and clean nature. The concept proposal of the working group “Symbiosis” describes how the symbiotic relation between man and clean nature creates the foundation for our future.
Finland’s key strengths are Education and Know how, Nature and Sustainable Development, Functionality and wellbeing. Build on these strengths; the key themes of Finland Pavilion and Exhibition are happiness, circular economy, innovations and sustainability.
The exhibition concept is expected to be completed during the autumn.
Partner Companies of Finnish pavilion
Finnish pavilion has all together 44 Partners, namely individual companies and clusters of companies. Total of over 110 companies have partnered with our pavilion.
With these partners we have reached our goal of 5 million euros of corporate funding. The door is still open for any company that wishes to take advantage of Finland pavilion in promoting their business in Emirates, Middle East or globally. The terms of partnership remain as before. Any interested company should contact our Expo team.
Communications
We have signed contract with a dynamic PR agency in Dubai, iHC - Integrated Holistic Communications, for Finland at Dubai Expo 2020 –project in UAE. The PR-agency will provide media relations services in securing best coverage for Finland and Finnish companies.
Operations and programming
The operations and programming planning has started, although still with minor emphasis. We will concentrate on these later this fall in more detail.
Operations will include the 40-50 guides of our pavilion (mainly provided by Haaga-Helia), housing of staff (Expo Village prices are quite high, thus we are looking suitable places near Expo) and other practical matters.
Programming consists mainly of the corporate program in the VIP area of the pavilion. In addition to this we are working with SITRA to develop the story of Finland centered around Circular Economy and Happiness, still including all sectors represented by our partner companies. Events in Expo area are planned with Nordic cooperation and also with other countries.
Finnish pavilion will be staffed by our Expo team and the Guides. The core of the Expo team will come from Helsinki, but few positions will be recruited locally in Dubai. Guides will be mainly from Haaga-Helia student population.
Pirkko Autio, Finland at Dubai Expo
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