Pedestal technology at the heart of the water installation at EXPO 2020 Dubai

EXPO World Exhibitions have always served as a showcase arena for the world's most groundbreaking engineering projects. The Water Feature installation located in Jubilee Park at the UAE Pavilion is an iconic work in which giant waves of water cascade down multi-meter-high black walls, and at the very center, powerful, curved sculptures covered in fiery glass mosaic and natural stone emerge from the pool basin.

The contractor's task was to create a perfectly level, safe-for-hydraulic-infrastructure flooring of dark granite around these sculptures. This space – being an integral part of the fountain mechanism – had to function in an environment of permanent contact with water, water mist, and treatment chemicals.

Working on a water installation of this scale in Dubai's demanding desert climate involved extreme technical restrictions:

• Complex curved geometry (Radiality): The flooring design completely excluded straight lines. Stone pavers had to be laid in a circular pattern, creating perfectly converging bands (radii) converging toward the center of the installation, which forced precise wedge-cutting of each element (visible in the photos).
• Concealment of a massive hydraulic system and nozzles: Directly beneath the flooring, a dense network of supply pipelines, misting nozzles, LED spotlights, and overflow systems was located (as documented by photos from the installation phase). Traditional concreting would have cut off access to these critical installations.
• Continuous submersion and dynamic pressure: The sub-base material had to demonstrate one hundred percent resistance to constant moisture, water pressure, and aggressive chemical compounds used for clarifying water in public fountains. The sub-base could not corrode or undergo biological degradation.
• Extreme point loads at the base of sculptures: Pedestals in the perimeter zone had to bear the weight of giant, curved sculptural forms in places where their structure descended directly below the flooring level.

1. Precise micro-adjustment of height and leveling: Using specialized wrenches and rings, physical workers controlled the height with accuracy down to one millimeter, correcting the technological slopes of the pool floor and leveling out structural deflections.
2. Glueless sub-floor drainage: Wide expansion joints between the granite pavers act as a giant slot drain. Rainwater or overflow water from the fountain immediately returns to the closed system beneath the floor, eliminating the risk of hydrostatic pressure building up above the pavers.
3. Modularity and serviceability: Each of the stoneware-stone pavers can be lifted for maintenance of nozzles or pool lighting without disturbing the rest of the structure.

The installation process in Jubilee Park was carried out under enormous time pressure before the official opening of EXPO, which required flawless coordination:

• Stage 1: Radial layout and pedestal spacing. An axis grid was applied to the protected pool floor. Adjustable pedestals were placed in a dense arrangement, adapting their position to the irregular shape of the basin and the routing of installation pipes.
• Stage 2: Height calibration beneath the sculptures. The engineering team used leveling battens to precisely set the pedestal height right next to the foundations of the fire sculptures, ensuring that the pavers slid under the sculpture structure in a perfectly flat manner.
• Stage 3: Precision stone installation. The dark granite pavers were individually cut along the curve. Their placement required millimeter-level repeatability so that the expansion joint lines formed cohesive, concentric circles around the park's central point.

The installation of the Water Feature at EXPO 2020 in Dubai became one of the most photographed attractions of the exhibition, drawing millions of visitors from around the world.

From an engineering standpoint, the project proved to be a tremendous success:

• Invisible technology: All of the fountain's powerful machinery, cabling, and hydraulics were completely concealed beneath an elegant, black raised deck surface, creating the illusion that the sculptures emerge from a monolithic stone slab.
• Mass safety: The perfectly level surface prevented visitors from tripping, and the rapid drainage of water through the gaps prevented the formation of a slippery water film on the granite surface.
• Durability in the UAE climate: The pedestal support system handles Dubai's extreme thermal load exceptionally well (temperatures exceeding 50°C in full sun) alternating with dynamic cooling from pool water, proving its superiority over any glued system.