A groundbreaking new visitor experience co-designed by the Eden Project International team opens to the public today (Oct 1) as part of Expo 2020 Dubai.
Terra, The Sustainability Pavilion, one of the centrepieces of what is billed as the “world’s greatest show”, is the first Eden-designed experience to open to the public outside the project’s home in Cornwall. It is the first open example of Eden’s global ambition to create projects on every habitable continent.
The Eden Project International team has co-led the landscape design and visitor experience for the pavilion, alongside its partners on the development Grimshaw, Thinc Design and the Expo 2020 Dubai team.
The pavilion will showcase the Eden ethos to an estimated 25 million visitors during the Expo’s 182-day duration, delayed by a year because of the global pandemic.
Terra is a demonstration of cutting-edge technology and innovative landscaping, providing an “extraordinary adventure that explores our individual and collective responsibilities as citizens on a changing planet”.
It is the first Eden Project-designed content outside Cornwall to open to the public and is at the vanguard of an Eden Project international programme that will see new Edens built in Morecambe in Lancashire, China, Scotland, Australia, Northern Ireland and New Zealand among others.
Sir Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project, said: “Eden is immensely proud to have been offered the opportunity to create marvellous things inside Terra with the genius designer Tom Hennes of Thinc Design. We knew it would have to be brave and startling to capture the imagination of people from all over the world coming to be inspired and entertained.
“The Expo team deserve huge credit for encouraging the creatives to go for their shots, raising emotionally interesting and challenging questions and ultimately asking all of us: how would we like to be remembered one hundred years from now?
“In our view, this is the world’s first rock’n’roll science centre. Congratulations to all. We loved working on it and we look forward to this being just the start of something very special indeed.”
David Harland, chief executive of Eden Project International, added: “This is another big moment in Eden’s history, and we are so pleased to see this collaboration realising the first Eden-designed content outside the UK and the first pin in the map for our international ambitions. We have loved working with so many creative and talented partners on this project, particularly our friends in the UAE, and we really hope visitors to the Expo enjoy visiting Terra.”
Expo 2020 Dubai is the first Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia and is the latest in a 170-year history of World Expos, which began with The Great Exhibition in London in 1851. Expos bring countries together to celebrate national achievement and provide a platform for innovation and global cooperation.
