At Expo 2020 Dubai, a young Italian company provides the material for outdoor walkway covers
i-Mesh is a lightweight, breathable fabric made by the Italian startup of the same name. For Expo 2020 Dubai, Werner Sobek used i-Mesh fabric for the pathway covers. This material is perfect for those latitudes as it shelters from heat and direct sunlight and, being breathable, lets air circulate. i-Mesh was used for all the main walkways.
To cover the whole promenade of Expo 2020 Dubai 52,500 square meters of fabric, for a total length of 2.7 km, were needed. This high-tech and green textile material passed the sandstorm resistance test remaining intact, without ripping, thanks to its strong and flexible fibers, soft material, and well-calibrated weight. The fabric features the distinctive patterns of a modern Mashrabiya, the latticework traditionally used in the architecture of Arab countries.
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This is the first time that i-Mesh has been used on a large urban scale. Werner Sobek’s idea was to recreate the intimate and familiar character of a pergola, but with impressive dimensions. Thanks to i-Mesh, light and air are filtered and reach the walkways creating a pleasant microclimate by simply using an extremely resistant fabric.
The canopy of Expo 2020 is produced with only 3% waste of virgin material. The 2.7 km long retractable cover has no transverse support beams. This eliminated the need for 30 kilometers of extruded aluminum, thereby avoiding the emission of 31 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Moreover, i-Mesh is reusable. When Expo 2020 Dubai is over, a large part of the fabric used for the covers will remain on site as a permanent installation, while other parts will be reused for different projects.
An innovative material for architecture
i-Mesh is composed of six types of fibers (including four minerals) and a thermoplastic polymer whose properties remain intact during the industrial process. This means that it can be separated from the fibers during recycling operations.
Discover also the Japanese Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai
Read about the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai
Discover also the Italian Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai
Read about the UK Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai
Discover also the Finnish Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai
Read about the Swiss Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai
See the UAE Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai
Discover also the South Korean Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai
i-Mesh is a patented, light, extremely resistant technical fabric that can be installed, stored, and disassembled with great ease as well as reused several times. It is produced exclusively in custom-made panels, based on a zero-waste logic. It is a circular product and a completely customizable material that matches any design need. There is no standard weave; each project is unique. i-Mesh can be used both indoors and outdoors.
