Poem Pavilion, Expo 2020

A performative structure utilising artificial intelligence to write poems, the Poem Pavilion is set to be the UK Pavilion for the Dubai Expo 2020. Es Devlin says the design was inspired by one of Stephen Hawking’s final projects, a global competition inviting people to create digital messages that would represent humanity if we were to encounter other advanced civilisations through space.

The 20-metre high cone-shaped pavilion will be made of rows of protruding slats that extend outwards from one central point which will form a circular façade with poems that are lit up in LED scrolling across it. Devlin hopes that the experience of entering the interior space will be one that is much like entering the resonating chamber of a wooden musical instrument. The inner layers of timber populated with LEDs will read poetry in Arabic, Chinese, French and English and is set to bring a sense of unification for the 25 million people anticipated to visit the expo.