Page 66 - Magazine December 2021

Interview
Interview to
Daniel Orti, ACCIONA Culture Engineering ME Director
process needs to be carried out always taking care of
the Quality standards, the interrelations among the
different disciplines and the sensitivity in the value
add by each Participant, the true protagonists of the
exhibition.
We create unique, memorable visitor experiences
that stimulate emotions and awareness with a playful
and instructive approach.
2. How long has ACCIONA been involved?
Since 1990 and for 30 years, the company has
participated in 9 Expos and has successfully delivered
71 pavilions for various countries and organizations
in the majority of the Universal and International
Expos held to date.
3. How did ACCIONA’s work complement the
exhibition design of the pavilions? Can you
give some concrete examples of the solutions
ACCIONA came up with at Expo 2020 projects?
Our value is to convey a visitor journey through a set
of different technical solutions. What matters is the
user experience beyond the technology behind.
At Expo 2020 Dubai, we have been responsible for a
1. Can you clarify ACCIONA Cultural wide range of works across Expo pavilions including
Engineering’s role in the different Expo projects? the United Arab Emirates and Spain (in Joint Venture
Since its origin, the history of ACCIONA Cultural with Empty), Terra – The Sustainability Pavilion, the
Engineering (ACE) has been closely linked to global Youth Pavilion and 47 Thematic District Pavilions.
exhibitions, designing and implementing all kind of In total, ACE has undertaken 54 Expo projects: 51
scopes in pavilions and shows for different countries pavilions, 6 Biomimicry Micromuseums (off-grid
and organizations across the World and International exhibits installed into six locations of the Expo 2020),
Exhibitions. Moreover, we have delivered the Airports Welcome
ACE’s success results from its capacity to understand Desks and Mall Kiosks, located at the three
that an exhibition project is more than just the international airports and main malls across United
sum of their parts. The knowledge of the whole Arab Emirates, as a part of the end-to-end experience.
process is crucial to identify high-priority elements The key message here is to expand the experience
and milestones in order to meet the schedule. The beyond the exhibit itself aiming to raise awareness,
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Contractors News
sell tickets, provide information about the exhibition subcontractors from three different continents and 23
and promote Expo 2020 as a must-see destination, nationalities working together in order to achieve the
always showcasing the creative and innovative spirit best performance for Expo has been and enormous
of this event. challenge that we have successfully overcome.
This vision of what a Universal Expo means for us It has been very comforting and enlightening to see
has helped us to successfully deliver two of the most along the last weeks such number of visitors in Dubai
relevant pavilions in Dubai: Terra-The Sustainability Expo 2020 enjoying our work. We feel honoured with
Pavilion and the United Arab Emirates Pavilion, the the amount of positive comments and feedback we
Dubai Expo 2020 host country. constantly find in social media.
4. How challenging was it during the pandemic 6. Which is the ACCIONA’s key approach in
for a Spanish company to work on the Expo developing and delivering these huge and iconic
2020? projects?
It is worth to highlight to main points that, under our We like to introduce ourselves as storytellers. Our
perspective, made a difference in the way we faced mission is to wrap the visitor into the experience
the project delivery in Dubai Expo 2020 projects through the highest quality standards in all our
during the pandemic: activities. When working for Expo projects we have
First of all, our local implementation: although we are always to go even further in the creative processes
a Spanish company, we are firmly established in the and the application of state-of-the art technologies.
UAE with staff of multiple nationalities, robust local The latest, the more innovative and creative projects
supply chain and a well-established structure. are showcased in these events.
And second of all, we cannot forget the digital
transformation where we already had an implanted 7. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has recently
culture of digital work including video conference applied to organise World Expo 2030 in Riyadh.
meetings, remote working, and decentralised What does this mean to ACCIONA Cultural
services among other policies embraced by Acciona. Engineering?
A good example of this is that although some offices As part of Vision 2030, the Kingdom is redefining
needed to be close during the lockdown due local its population wellbeing through the introduction of
legal requirement, none of our projects stopped. We an intense cultural agenda that includes first class
continued providing our services to clients and a good worldwide events... Apart from their desire of been the
example of it is that the first Dubai Expo 2020 pavilion host country for the World Expo 2030, six ambitious
to open in January 2021 was Terra-The Sustainability landmark projects being developed in the Kingdom
Pavilion. aim to help transform the economy while showing the
world and all Saudis the nation’s geographic wealth,
5. Talk about the challenges of implementing cultural heritage and hospitality, economic ambitions
34,895 square metres of exhibition at Expo 2020 and aspirations for environmental conservation.
Dubai for a Spanish company. All these Giga-projects will enable a social and
Managing 54 Expo projects that features 34,895 economic change in KSA that is very aligned to
m2 of exhibition space, plus putting together 23 ACCIONA´s approach to Social Sustainability policies.
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