New Zealand at Expo reveals how its pavilion theme will be brought to life
With just four months to go until the start of Expo 2020 Dubai, New Zealand is unveiling more detail, and a new video trailer, about how the nation’s theme of Care for People and Place will guide all the engagement, activities, and events undertaken at the mega event inside the New Zealand pavilion and beyond.
The theme is inspired by the indigenous environmental ethos of kaitiakitanga, the understanding that humans and nature are inextricably connected. It is a deep belief that humans have a responsibility to care and protect the land, sky and water and that nature will, in turn, provide and care for humans to sustain and safeguard a future for all. This Care for People and Place forms the theme for New Zealand’s pavilion and activities at Expo 2020 Dubai.
“Our new video is a teaser as to what visitors can expect when they come to the New Zealand pavilion and an insight into our theme. As an inclusive and multicultural society, New Zealand takes a long-term, multi-generational view to both social and environmental issues, some of which can be seen in the footage. Our pavilion experience at Expo 2020 will demonstrate how we apply Care for People and Place to all facets of life, particularly when it comes to business, social inclusion, women’s empowerment, youth development, food production and agriculture, our primary export sector. We believe this approach is helping to unlock significant economic advantage for New Zealand to leverage at Expo 2020,” said Clayton Kimpton, New Zealand’s Commissioner-General to Expo 2020 Dubai.
The visitor experience within the New Zealand pavilion has been inspired by a key example of kaitiakitanga as in 2017, a world-first legal status was accorded to the Whanganui River in New Zealand. Under the legislation, the Whanganui River was and is recognised as a living entity, called Te Awa Tupua. The innovative legislation obligates the government, local authorities, and all communities of the river to work together under Tupua Te Kawa, the innate values of Te Awa Tupua. This important historical move from leading indigenous communities within New Zealand will form the base of a beautiful, immersive visitor experience which will leave guests with a deeper understanding as to why kaitiakitanga is so important to the planet. The experience will also show how and why New Zealand continues to push innovation and technology across a range of important business sectors such as agtech, healthcare and food and beverage production in order to care and protect.
“The idea that we are indivisible from the natural world is expressed through every aspect of our pavilion experience – from the architecture and building façade which is designed to ripple with a pulse coupled with the thought-provoking cinematic storytelling, to the entertainment and cultural programme that highlights a huge breadth of talent and an outstanding restaurant which celebrates New Zealand produce that is always made with care,” continued Kimpton.
The New Zealand Pavilion will also feature a full-service restaurant operated by Emirates Flight Catering, where visitors can taste the outstanding quality of the country’s food and beverage offering. Named “Tiaki” meaning to care, safeguard, protect and preserve in te reo Māori, the restaurant demonstrates New Zealand’s special connection to the land and sea – a relationship founded on respect and understanding that when nature thrives, we all thrive. The country’s lush, green pastures, fertile soil and cool, clear waters combine to grow outstanding, great-tasting, nutritious produce, from a trusted and safe source.
Beyond the design, experience and restaurant in the New Zealand pavilion, Care for People and Place lives throughout the country’s programming, entertainment and business interactions at Expo 2020.
In another world-first, New Zealand is leading on, and working with, international Indigenous and Tribal peoples to deliver the first ever Global Indigenous Symposium at a World Expo. Known as Te Aratini, it will be a culturally significant moment, which is set to elevate the contributions, unlimited potential, and insights that Indigenous Peoples offer in solving current and future global issues. The symposium will be held in November 2021, during Expo 2020’s Tolerance and Inclusivity Week. In the spirit of inclusivity, Te Aratini will support attendees to develop a deeper and more holistic understanding of Indigenous Economic Inclusion and the converging roles of culture, community, commerce and conservation in the protection, maintenance and resurgence of the world’s indigenous economies from an indigenous perspective.
Care for People and Place also extends to future generations through extensive learning experiences and opportunities which will be showcased at Expo 2020. These programmes have been designed to support the growth of future leaders and include the Global Kaitiakitanga Project for young entrepreneurs with innovative solutions to world issues and a trainee chef programme which will see four talented young chefs from New Zealand work alongside professional chefs from Emirates Flight Catering in the Tiaki restaurant for a once-in-lifetime experience which will springboard their careers.
Along with the support of youth, empowering women and promoting gender equality is another area where New Zealand will be showing Care for People and Place. As a country with a long-standing commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment, New Zealand will use its experience to lead a special event in conjunction with International Women’s Day in March called ChangemakeHER, which will see inspirational females from around the world share their tales, experiences, and learnings in the hopes of inspiring future female leaders. The country will also curate a World Majlis at Expo 2020 to promote gender diversity working in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in partnership with Australia.
New Zealand’s participation in Expo 2020 is supported by corporate sponsorship from a number of iconic New Zealand brands that are known as the Care Collective who each have their own approach to kaitiakitanga.
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With 3D theme and fairytale crush, Forever Rose Cafe opens at Boxpark in Dubai
Homegrown luxury florist, Forever Rose, opened its first Forever Rose Cafe in Dubai at Boxpark by Meraas, recreating the floral boutique in a cafe setting and offering a unique experience to its customers. Designed to feel as if in a storybook, the cafe is developed as 3D illustrations, allowing patrons to feel as if they are part of a drawing. Upon the success of the Abu Dhabi Forever Rose Cafe in The Galleria Mall, the Forever Rose Cafe, Boxpark will not only offer the current dessert and coffee menu found at its counterpart, but will also expand into an all-day dining experience, including breakfast, lunch, dinner and afternoon tea. With an indoor space of 200 sqm overlooking the garden outside, the newly launched Forever Rose Cafe can seat up to 100 guests, with outdoor seating planned in the near future.
As the first 3D cafe in the region, the inspiration behind the design of the Forever Rose Cafe follows suit from the current Forever Rose floral boutiques with a black and white colour scheme, expanded upon through a black and white 3D theme. With protruding wall features and prominent art pieces, the Forever Rose Cafe, Boxpark nods towards its homegrown heritage, with a portrait of the UAE Royal Family taking precedence, as well as first seen images of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai. Iconic images are also found throughout the venue, including the Mona Lisa, Tom and Jerry, and the Pink Panther. All designs were hand-drawn and converted to depict the stencil stage of the images, providing fun features for patrons to interact with as well as photographable moments, perfect to be shared on social media.
Ebraheem Al Samadi, founder and CEO of Forever Rose said: “The initial reason we opened the first cafe in Abu Dhabi was to be a part of our customers’ everyday lives, even if it is just through an amazing cup of coffee or dessert. As the first 3D cafe located in Boxpark, Dubai, we will continue to provide the Forever Rose experience through a unique and expanded dining opportunity. We want to transport our customers from reality into the world of fantasy and to give them a new prospect of life. At the Forever Rose Cafes, as well as our boutiques, we pride ourselves on the atmosphere that we offer, the friendliness of our staff, the warm welcoming to all, and of course, the delicious cuisine we serve. We are excited to have the chance to bring the Forever Rose Cafe to the heart of Dubai at Boxpark by Meraas, as well as offer an extended menu to our customers.”
“The room, our cups and plates are all illustrated in black and white, leaving only our customers, food and beverages in color. This recreates a romantic notion of being a part of a fairytale,” Al Samadi added.
SNC-Lavalin’s Atkins business awarded lead design contract for Six Flags Qiddiya theme park in KSA
SNC-Lavalin’s Atkins business has been awarded the lead design consultant services contract from Qiddiya Investment Company (QIC) for the Six Flags Qiddiya theme park project – located within Qiddiya, Southwest of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
Under the three-year contract, Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group, will provide integrated lead design consultant, construction supervision, and cost management services. The scope of work includes public realm and necessary infrastructure within the plot area along with validation of the pre-concept design, as well as the development of sustainability and environmental assessment methods, design criteria, and standards of the project.
Six Flags Qiddiya is scheduled for opening during the first phase of Qiddiya – the Kingdom’s Capital of Entertainment, Sports and the Arts. The park will stretch across 32 hectares (79 acres) and feature 28 uniquely themed rides and attractions across six lands: The City of Thrills, Discovery Springs, Steam Town, Twilight Gardens, Valley of Fortune and Grand Exposition. The theme park will provide both recreational and professional opportunities to the Saudi population and boast a number of record-breaking attractions including The Falcon’s Flight, the longest, tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world.
“This win is a testament to our proven track record for delivering flagship projects worldwide, and market-focused approach to a dynamic and sustainable business growth in the Middle East,” said Cris Dedigama, CEO of Atkins Middle East & Africa, Engineering, Design and Project Management, SNC-Lavalin. “We are proud to work with Qiddiya on this one-of-a-kind project that supports Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the acceleration of the country’s economic diversification agenda.”
“With over 50 years’ presence in the Middle East, Atkins has delivered some of the region’s most iconic amusement parks,“ said Ian Redmayne, Managing Director of Atkins KSA, Engineering, Design and Project Management, SNC-Lavalin. “We are proud to support the Six Flags Qiddiya project that is set to redefine the entertainment industry not only in the region, but also globally. We look forward to delivering this project to the highest quality, safety and sustainability standards.”
Qiddiya Investment Company (QIC) is driving the development of Qiddiya – home of the most innovative and disruptive experiences in entertainment, sports, and the arts in Saudi Arabia. As a core tenet of Vision 2030, Qiddiya has a dual economic and social purpose: to advance economic diversification and unlock new professional pathways while enriching lives of the youth in the Kingdom.
The Company relationship with Qiddiya started in 2019 when the company began providing master planning and infrastructure engineering services for the destination-resort community.
DOMOTEX’s new lead theme will focus on innovative flooring concepts
DOMOTEX, the world’s leading trade fair for carpets and floor coverings, will run from January 15-18, 2021 in Hannover, Germany. The event’s new lead theme, COVER NEW GROUND, zeroes in on three dimensions that permeate the latest trends: Balanced Living. Sustainable Living. More than Floor. How does the desire for deceleration, for more naturalness and more mindfulness affect the design of our environment? How can we change the interiors in which we live and work? Where do floors begin and where do they end? What new functionality will floors provide in the future? And: Who says nature only happens outdoors?
In an age of corona, more and more people are working from home and dynamically transitioning from work to private life and back again. As a result, the interior designs of and flooring used in home environments are becoming more and more significant. Moreover, unused office facilities are going vacant and being used in a variety of new ways, meaning that their interiors need to be adapted accordingly.
Mindfulness, naturalness and well-being can be positively influenced by the appropriate selection of surfaces and materials as well as by innovative concepts. Here, too, it is important to blaze new trails – and not just because of the pandemic. The lead theme of DOMOTEX is therefore a motivational call to all of us to think outside the box.
Big-name interior architects and interior designers have already taken up the challenge. Attendees, speakers and jurors of past DOMOTEX events have joined forces to create lifestyle-inspired environments in which visitors can experience floors in a completely new way. And what kinds of carpets and floors were used for which purposes? The following project-related remarks illustrate the various connotation of the COVER NEW GROUND lead theme.
Interior designer Gunnar Seel regularly attends DOMOTEX as a source of inspiration for his work. Together with his Seel Bobsin Partner team in Hamburg, he has created a multi-space office for the Hannover-based tour operator TUI, making use of functionally appropriate, sustainably produced carpet tiles from Carpet Concept. The tiles have a basic graphic pattern characterised by a colour gradient in special hues. Their large-scale format makes the otherwise “busy”-looking pattern almost invisible, resulting in a more subtle appearance.
Spela Videcnik and her OFIS Architects office in Andalusia have built a 20-square-meter pavilion made of special solar control glass. “La casa del desierto” consists of a living area, bedroom and whirlpool sunk into the wooden floor, which offers a unique view of the surrounding desert landscape. The floorto- ceiling glazed “walls” are moored between the foundation and the roof, each of which is constructed of wooden cassettes, with mirrored panels on the facades to reflect the surroundings. The floor is covered with light graybleached, narrow and elongated panels made of larch wood by the Slovenian company Permiz, which lead beyond the room into the open air, thus seamlessly connecting indoors and outdoors. The glass pavilion was developed as a holiday home that can be booked via Internet platforms.
Designer Werner Aisslinger and his studio developed the interior design for the “Stayery” serviced apartments in the Friedrichshain district of Berlin. The concept includes co-working spaces as well as a communal living area for relaxation and enjoyment. The texture of the floors guides residents and visitors to individual areas that merge into one another. The design was inspired by the urban setting. A gray carpet resembling grained road asphalt leads from the entrance area to the elevators. The apartments are lined up along a corridor like an ensemble of small houses with their own addresses. The hallway is fitted with a rugged, striped carpet that resembles a pedestrian crosswalk. The carpet here was chosen for both atmospheric and acoustic reasons, with added advantages in terms of heat insulation.
Peter Ippolito is an architect and interior designer. With the “Soho 3Q” project, his Ippolito Fleitz studio transformed an old department store in Shanghai into coworking spaces and an inspiring atmosphere for startups. The heart of the building is a two-story campus with a lobby, café areas and discussion zones of varying sizes. On the upper levels, there are enclosed offices with privacy and small islands for meetings, which are fitted with durable carpets for noise reduction. As a sculptural and high-quality element, a wooden spiral staircase connects all floors; the use of wood as a material enabled the seamless and high-quality design solution, which requires no tracks at the edges of the steps. All offices and public areas have HPL floors with wood decor, as they are less expensive than wood, extremely easy to clean and insensitive to scratches.
In her company’s blog, London-based designer Vanessa Brady is looking ahead to the time after coronavirus. “Our professional would be well advised to apply ourselves to uplifting peoples’ spirits and contributing to their mental health. That’s the task at hand.” Asked about what kind of floors would be particularly suitable for restaurants, she explains: “Woven vinyl and LVT are just as suitable as tiles, wood or sometimes even metal panels. Aren’t interior designers always on the lookout for a trendy, alternative look such as made possible by special finishes?” One topic, Brady is sure, will always be relevant: hygiene. How a floor covering lends itself to cleaning is every bit as important as its weight or resistance to wear and tear. For the short life span of a pop-up store, you can resort to less durable materials. “To be honest,” she says, “you almost always need a high-performance, quality product approved for commercial applications. For the most part, that adds up to a regular commercial product.” For Vanessa Brady, this means that architects and designers need to stay up to date with the latest developments, product launches, color trends and innovative finishes – “especially since technology is so rapidly propelling us forward”.
Visitors to DOMOTEX 2021 can find out about the latest floor covering developments. Under the lead theme COVER NEW GROUND, innovative manufacturers will be presenting a wide range of products in Hannover from 15 to 18 January.
At the “Flooring Parks”, the segments of Carpets, Fibers & Yarns in Hall 11 and Resilient Flooring & Design Flooring, Parquet and Laminate Flooring, as well as Application and Laying Techniques in Hall 12 will each have their own stage, and products will be highlighted in the context of actual room settings, thus putting the spotlight on special trends.