Architects presented the "spaghetti man," the Czech pavilion of the World Expo

Prague - Architects today presented the design of the Czech pavilion for the World Expo in Prague. The so-called Shpageťák, which will be in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates next year, is a cloud of tubes. The core of the national exhibition will be the S.A.W.E.R system that produces water from air using solar energy. The cost of construction and operation is around 80 to 85 million crowns, said co-author of the project Jindřich Ráftl today at the vernissage. Construction work in Dubai has already begun.

"The pavilion is a cloud of tubes - it is an artistic expression of how the S.A.W.E.R system works - it creates water from air," Ráftl stated. The pavilion will be built from foldable polymer tubes, originally bioplastics were considered. "This system has tremendous potential in that it can help in places where it is really needed. It's a Czech patent and idea. If it is used in the desert, people wouldn't need to tend to move due to drought," he added.

In addition to a sample facade displayed at the Jaroslav Frágner Gallery at Prague's Bethlehem Square, Ráftl also presented artistic sketches of the project. In Dubai, the exhibition will occupy an area of 25 by 50 meters, and according to Ráftl, the plot will be occupied three-quarters. "We have been working on the design since June last year, we already have all the papers ready," the architect added.

Scientists from the Buštěhrad University Center for Energy Efficient Buildings (UCEEB) want to test the system in the desert. In June, two containers with the equipment left Buštěhrad for the United Arab Emirates, said Tomáš Matuška from UCEEB, who is in charge of the project. The currently tested system, which fits into two shipping containers, produces 100 liters of distilled water per day. Further processing with minerals will turn this into drinking water. "The goal is to create the device and offer it for really remote areas without infrastructure," Matuška stated. The device will be located near a camel farm where several hundred racing camels live. Bedouins, for example, also go to the farm for water, and the device could serve them, according to Matuška.

The equipment for the Czech exposition in Dubai is expected to start being developed this autumn. The capacity of the exhibited technology should be five times that of the one currently being tested. It will also be connected with other systems, such as for special irrigation.

Expo 2020 will run from October 20, 2020, to April 10, 2021. It is the first World Expo to take place in the region of the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. For the first time, an Arab country is hosting it. Organizers expect that 25 million people will visit, of which about three-quarters will be from abroad.