The Czech pavilion at Expo 2020 could be visited by several million people

Prague - The Czech pavilion at the World Expo 2020 in Dubai could be visited by several million visitors. This was stated today at a press conference by Jiří František Potužník, the general commissioner representing the Czech Republic at the Universal World Exhibition Expo. The exhibition in the Czech pavilion will present ten permanent exhibits and ten thematic exhibitions that will be rotated during the duration of the expo. The rotating exhibitions will cover topics such as water, design, technology, and universities. The Expo 2020 exhibition was postponed due to the coronavirus epidemic and will take place from this October 1st to March 31, 2022.

"I would consider it a success if ten percent of the visitors to the Expo came to us (in the Czech pavilion)," Potužník told ČTK, adding that the exhibition in Dubai could attract tens of millions of people.

Czechia will offer among its projects, which will be on display throughout the entire duration of the expo, the Solar Air Water Earth Resource (S.A.W.E.R.) system, which produces water from air using solar energy. The operation of the system will be described through animations on a didactic wall in the pavilion. The development of the system involved the University Center for Energy Efficient Buildings and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Czech Technical University (CTU) in Prague. The water produced by the S.A.W.E.R. system will be used for irrigating the garden around the national pavilion.

Among the permanent exhibits will also be a robotic arm that uses sand and degradable bioplastics from waste fats for 3D printing, or a robotic line that can read how plants react to various conditions and suggest suitable care based on the gathered data.

While the ground floor of the national pavilion will feature a fountain named the Heart of the Pavilion, visitors will enter the first floor around a glass installation by the company LASVIT. Visitors will also see an interactive wall of personal 3D printers from Prusa Research, which will create three-dimensional elements of a puzzle that visitors can assemble on-site in real-time, or an abstract painting by Adéla Oliva titled Six Elements.

The design of the Czech pavilion was created by architects Jindřich Ráftl and Jan Tůma from the studio Formosa AA, who won the selection process with their proposal. "We wanted to present and explain the S.A.W.E.R. system, which will be inside the pavilion, to people passing by the building. Thus, a cloud of tubes is being created in the garden, which will be connected to the interior of the building," Ráftl told ČTK regarding the design of the pavilion. The construction of the Czech pavilion is being provided by the Dubai company Pico, which replaced the originally selected company MCI. Last year, the Office of the General Commissioner terminated the contract with MCI due to repeated contract violations and delays in deliveries. According to Potužník, construction work was completed at the end of April. In the following months, according to him, interiors will be adjusted for the final installation of exhibits and technologies, which should be placed in the exhibition during September.

According to the general commissioner, approximately 90 million crowns have been allocated for the construction of the pavilion. The government allocated 160 million for the Expo in 2017, and last year an additional 25 million. Additional funds were provided by private companies.

For the first time, an Arab country will host the world exhibition. According to information on the czexpo.com website, the organizers of the exhibition in Dubai expect participation from about 200 exhibitors. The main exhibition area will cover 438 hectares.