For the World’s greatest event, RIMOND – as a key delivery partner of the National Media Council of UAE – was tasked with delivering one of the most complex architectural feat of Expo Milan 2015: the United Arab Emirates pavilion designed by the world-renowned global sustainable architecture firm, Foster + Partners.
The design of the pavilion, with a LEED Platinum target, considered its use beyond its immediate purpose, a crucial aspect of its sustainability.
The building was designed to be dismantled following the Expo Milan 2015 event and relocated to Masdar City to be reconstructed.
To ensure the success of the project, we brought our Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) experience to maximize the reusability of the building systems including GFRC cladding, bolted steel frame, demountable floor slabs, glazed façades and metal cladding.
The traditional procedures would have needed three times as many people on-site, compared to our DfMA solution, which enabled us to complete the construction project faster and with less workers on site.
As part of our fast-track approach enabled by digital tools and DfMA, we fostered a collaborative culture to make sure the pavilion was delivered on time and successfully within 9 months despite the logistic challenges.
Following the end of the Expo Milan 2015 event, RIMOND was involved as the principal contractor for the dismantling and relocation of the pavilion to Masdar City in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, UAE.
The 9-month delivery timeframe of the complex pavilion, including the contractor’s design portion, presented unique engineering, procurement and scheduling challenges.
Another unique challenge introduced by the pavilion was designing for dismantling and reuse. The client had the intention to dismantle the pavilion following the end of the Expo 2015 Milan event and reconstruct it as a legacy in Abu Dhabi.
This required the selection and engineering of demountable and reusable building systems with a long lifespan and able to adapt to the climate of both Italy and the UAE.
As part of a collaborative and inclusive culture established by RIMOND, we worked with Foster + Partners and with our supply chain and specialist consultants on completing the design according to the challenging specifications required by the architect and to an exceptional quality standard.
We introduced offsite manufacturing strategies derived from our experience in DfMA (design for manufacture and assembly) on steelwork and MEP works where we installed preassembled larger sections of steel and MEP system blocks. The DfMA approach also reinforced our dismantling for reuse strategy as the pavilion was later dismantled, shipped and reconstructed in Abu Dhabi by RIMOND.
Working closely with our supply chain, we fostered the selection of reusable building systems and components in the pavilion to deliver the maximum value and benefit to the reconstruction of the legacy building at the final location.
Our team was able to work on the delivery at a blistering pace thanks to our integrated approach and DfMA solutions, fast-tracking the project schedule, the fabrication and site works while the design process was happening concurrently.
The risks in the design was mitigated using digital engineering and parametric modeling that enabled coordination of design on BIM models and optimization of cladding connections with the steelwork through advanced regenerative design techniques, enabling our team to extract all the data required for fabrication though a digital tool developed in-house.
