Expo 2020 Dubai

Expo 2020 Dubai

In 2021 the "Exposition Universelle" took place in Dubai, I am a UAE resident and architecture fan, so I have visited this place more than 10 times. It was really wonderful, I enjoyed a lot, it was a meeting between all countries, cultures and architecture.

Al Wasl dome is a wonder of architecture, gigantic but lively and almost transparent, it is the center of the expo place and a lot of concerts has been done inside. This half sphere is surrounded by 5 hotels and avenues and this complex is what I like the most in the Expo.

I decided to make it because I, of course, love LEGO, but I challenged myself to make the dome which in LEGO is always complex when we talk about circles.

The OPTI bot is the mascot of the expo, all kids wanted to interact with it, there were many inside and the design is so cool.

(I also built the sustainability, the mobility and the UAE pavilion, but the set was becoming too complex and too large, so I did not add them).

This set is a big LEGO square with 3 entries and the OPTI bot on the fourth edge, the dome is at the center and the five hotels are circling it.

The Al Wasl Dome: I first, searched all round pieces I could find, and tried to make a gigantic circle like the "Expo Logo" (you can find close to the UAE flag in pictures) and after that, I tried to find the good angles using less tow pieces I could. But it was not the good way, so I made a quarter of the half sphere starting from the circle at the top and this worked much better. Succeeding was a great feeling. Haha.

After, I tried to put the feet of the dome and try to hide the fixation, I used arches and I stick both with round pieces with open stud and bars at the back.

A big thank you to HP sets for his 12 glasses, really helpful to build the dome (ring double from BrickHeadz).

The Hotels: hotels circling the dome are really unusual buildings with particular angles and needed to be upside downstairs to let the dome coming inside, was fun to do.

I used hinge pieces, brackets and 1x1 brick with extra stud, not too hard, but I made them three times to find the good size to fit with the dome.

The OPTI Bot: this robot was hard to build because pieces had opposite studs, so I needed to add a round plate with open stud and bar inside to stick the big pieces of the bot.

Except the dome all structures are fixed to the ground with only one stud to be easy to pick and rotate.

I think people will like this set because more than 20 millions people came to visit the "Expo 2020" which was honestly outstanding.

Now the Expo is done, but the place will survive because they will transform it to "District 2020" which should become a no car city.

The new district will keep the dome and the hotels, only the pavilions out of my set will be changed to buildings.

If this set comes to life it would be a good "souvenir" of the Expo for all LEGO and Architecture fans.

Hope you like it and especially people who were lucky enough to visit this Expo too.

I also wish they will find this place similar.

Thank you to everybody.

Regards.