First look at Expo 2020 Dubai’s ‘mashrabiya’ doors designed by Asif Khan

It’s just about 250 days to go before Dubai‘s biggest event ever – Expo 2020 Dubai – and the first of the structures at the Expo site has finally been completed. 

The three Expo Entry Portals that will welcome millions of visitors from around the world to Expo 2020 Dubai have been completed and the first images of the doors have been released this week. 

The portals were designed by British architect Asif Khan and his studio, and are a futuristic adaptation of the traditional mashrabiya, an intricate design used across the region to regulate light and airflow.

Ahmed Al Khatib, Chief Development and Delivery Officer, Expo 2020 Dubai, said: “We cannot wait to open our doors to the world on October 20,  2020, and the Expo Entry Portals will provide a wonderful way to welcome millions of people from across the globe to The World’s Greatest Show, giving a first taste of the amazing architecture and groundbreaking innovation they will experience all around the site.”

Theportals are woven entirely from strands of ultra-lightweight carbon-fibre composite that lend incredible structural strength. This enables the structures to stand 21 metres high – taller than a six-storey building – and 30 metres long without any additional support.

Each portal features two vast doors, 21 metres high and 10.5 metres wide, that will be opened every morning of the 173 days of Expo 2020 in a symbolic act of welcoming the world. The portals lead to tree-filled arrival courtyards, also designed in collaboration with Khan – one in each of the three Expo 2020 districts: Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability.

The intricate structures have taken three years to develop and are the first element to be fully revealed from Khan’s design of Expo 2020’s Public Realm, which comprises more than six kilometres of walkable areas across the site.

Asif Khan, architect of Expo 2020 Dubai’s Public Realm, who has described the Expo Entry Portals as his best work yet, said: “The portals are the first thing you see as you approach the site, so they are a landmark at the beginning and end of your journey at Expo 2020. I would like visitors to Expo, especially children, to be inspired by architecture they have never seen before, and to be excited that it is part of the heritage of the region. Passing through the doors represents a physical and symbolic act of moving from the past into the future.”

The portals will be the first impression of the site upon arrival for the millions of visitors who will attend the first World Expo and largest event ever to be held in the Arab world.