Nature. Nurture. Future

Singapore will present its vision of a sustainable, liveable and resilient city at Expo 2020 Dubai

Singapore’s innovative urban solutions and culture will be presented on the global stage at the upcoming Expo 2020 Dubai. Situated within the Sustainability District, the Singapore Pavilion will present a microcosm of the nation’s transformed landscape.

Underscoring Singapore’s vision of shaping itself into a liveable, sustainable and resilient city of the future through the smart integration of design, technology and nature, the pavilion will profile Singapore’s experience and expertise in developing and implementing urban innovations and showcase the country’s continued commitment towards building a sustainable future. It also serves as a platform for the cross-pollination of ideas to build future cities that balances the needs of their people and environments.

Singapore’s sustainability story

Designed by Singapore-based architectural practice WOHA, the pavilion represents the nation’s efforts to be a City in Nature, and how this vision can also be realised anywhere through smart and sustainable urban solutions.

This vision unfurls itself through the different spaces of the Pavilion that visitors can explore.

Upon entering the Ground Garden, visitors will be welcomed by a garden landscape, with a phytoremediation pond nestled among a lush array of plants, trees, shrubs, including Singapore’s national flower, the Vanda Miss Joaquim orchid. Boasting an open plan, the architecture interacts seamlessly with the environment, helping visitors to envision how nature can be integrated and restored in urban settings.

Visitors will journey through three verdant thematic cones — Rainforest Cone, City Cone, and Flower Cone — each housing key exhibits that showcase Singapore’s transformational journey, solutions to urban issues, as well as efforts in creating a sustainable future for our people. The three cones are connected by a meandering, gently-sloping Canopy Walk capped with a hanging garden of draping vines, re-creating the atmosphere of the lush tropical urban landscape of Singapore.

Incorporating regenerative design for long-term sustainability

To reflect the country’s guiding ethos of sustainable development, the pavilion, which is built on a small 1,550 sq m site, is designed to have minimal impact on the environment through its lifecycle. It is designed to be a self-sufficient ecosystem, to achieve net-zero energy during the six-month event period via the use of solar panels, management of energy and desalination of saline groundwater.

The pavilion showcases how the built environment can help to increase biodiversity, provide more space for trees and other greenery, and play a pivotal part in combating climate change, even in a desert environment. It also integrates landscaping into its design, showing that the built environment does not need to displace nature but can, in fact, co-exist with it.

Courtesy: Urban Development Authority