Win a Prize of AED 100,000 from Expo 2020 for Designing a Fountain

Sabeel 2020 is a program that sets out to produce uniquely and innovatively designed drinking water fountains for the Expo 2020 Dubai site and its legacy. Drawing from the Expo 2020 theme of ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and sub-themes of Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability, Sabeel 2020 is a chance to build new creative collaborations and concepts, and further serves to provide major opportunities for the UAE creative sector. A prize of AED 100,000 will be paid to each successful applicant selected as a winner.

Competition Theme:

Inspired by the notion of the Sabeel, the program sets out to re-imagine the traditional drinking fountain as an iconic design for the Expo 2020 public space, harmoniously integrating both art and design elements. Sabeel 2020 builds on the concept of shared humanity and solidarity and seeks to celebrate water as our common good while incorporating the Expo 2020 sub-themes of Opportunity, Mobility, and Sustainability.

Designers, architects, artists, and creatives are invited to reinterpret the Sabeel as an iconic feature of the Expo 2020 public realm. The winning design(s) should have the capacity to push one’s understanding of the Sabeel in a contemporary, creative way while maintaining the functionality of a fully operational drinking fountain.

Eligibility Criteria:

The Sabeel 2020 competition invites practitioners who:

• Work as designers, architects, artists or within other creative industries.
• Have experience working in the public realm to brief or commission.
• Demonstrate an ability to design a work that is suitable for permanent public display.
• Display awareness of environmental concerns and a commitment to the key principles that inform Expo 2020’s overall sustainability strategy.
• Embrace conceptual and visual ideas/designs that are wholly original, dynamic, carefully considered and contextually appropriate.
• Have a proven track record of adhering to budgets and deadlines.
• Are from or are based in the UAE, including UAE nationals, long-term residents and those with a demonstrable and sustained relationship with the UAE and its values.

Design Proposals Should:

• Consider the architecture and environment of Expo 2020’s site and visitor usability, including public health and safety standards.
• Be robust enough to withstand high levels of usage, considering a projected 150,000 daily visitors to Expo 2020.
• Stand out conceptually, artistically and technically.
• Engage meaningfully with a broad, contemporary audience base, and encourage interactivity and engagement.
• Provide a memorable, captivating focal point that will bring the concept of the Sabeel to life in a non-literal way.
• Show some flexibility in terms of concept as well as adaptability to place, design and install.
• Consider availability of materials locally and have the capacity to be produced within a budget commensurate to benchmarked standards for a drinking fountain in the UAE market.
• Meet the deadlines of the application, production and installation processes outlined here

Further technical requirements and health and safety regulations are listed here.

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