Edito : A foundation stone embodying a French ambition
Just over 6 weeks after the unveiling of the French Pavilion design and project by Brune Poirson on 19 March 2019, Elisabeth Borne lay the foundation stone of the Lumière, Lumières Pavilion on 2 May at the location of the Dubai World Expo. Surrounded by the design-execution team, members of Cofrex and most of the sponsor companies involved in the project, she was able to appreciate the scale of the challenge of creating a building on a 4,700 m2 patch of sand, 30 metres away from the Mobility Pavilion, which can potentially become one of the landmark location of the World Expo 2020, primarily through its quality and the innovations it will be made of (from an environmental and energetic perspective in particular), but also through its vibrant and rich content over the course of 24 weeks.
The atmosphere was joyful and determined, offering a very specific example of the strength of the France team’s commitment, as the press, who had a strong presence, was able to see for themselves.
This first stone marks the midway point between almost eighteen months of preparatory work for this pavilion and eighteen months of construction work which will result in an opening on 20 October 2020. It reflects the work and mobilisation within an innovative project, combining the public and private talent of our country. It was good to celebrate it, and the pictures shown here are the best proof of that.