Antoni Gerges

World Future Energy Summit, Abu Dhabi: the pavilion of the Department of Municipal Affairs, 2010 to 2015

World Future Energy Summit · Abu Dhabi · 2010

World Future Energy Summit

Leave your mark.

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I led the team through AntBrush to develop Leave Your Mark for Abu Dhabi’s Department of Municipal Affairs—a campaign connecting individual action with the city’s future.

Department of Municipal Affairs, Abu Dhabi (today the Department of Municipalities and Transport) · ADNEC, Hall 4 · January 2010

The key visual: a tree whose crown is one great thumbprint, over the words Leave your mark
The key visual · World Future Energy Summit, 2010

A thumbprint is a signature no one can copy.

The city signed its projects with one, and asked its people to add theirs.

The tree ad, 2010. Every thumbprint pressed in, one after another.

The ads · 2010

The city ad: towers made of thumbprints, the World Future Energy Summit 2010 logo, Abu Dhabi, 18–21 January 2010
The same prints build its towers.The city, with the summit’s dates
The cars ad: two cars on a lit road, their bodies thumbprints, We’re leaving a positive mark on our Emirate’s growth
…and light its roads.The cars: “We’re leaving a positive mark on our Emirate’s growth”In 2010 the government put AED 2 billion (about US$545 million) into the emirate’s street lights. Its Sustainable Public Lighting Strategy, which made LED the rule on every road, was one of the projects our work presented.
The Energy Conservation Code poster: a bulb inside a recycling sign of thumbprints, International Building CodesThe Fire Code poster: an extinguisher made of a thumbprint, spraying thumbprints, International Building Codes
The same print signed the city’s new building codes.Energy Conservation Code · Fire CodeThe Building Codes campaign

The invitation and the kit

An invitation you could sign.

A kraft sleeve that said “Leave your imprint”; inside, the invitation and a bookmark cut to the shape of a thumb, with the hall and the stand. Guests of honour and the press received a kit and a solar charger.

The invitation’s kraft sleeve, LEAVE YOUR IMPRINT, a thumb-shaped cut at its end
The sleeve: “Leave your imprint”

ADNEC, Hall 4 · January 2010

Then the print became a room.

A thumbprint across the ceiling, over everyone who came; the campaign line on the canopy, the cars ad on the screens.

The stand’s ceiling: one great thumbprint over the glass cases and the visitors
The thumbprint ceiling
The 2010 stand as designed: a white truss, a green canopy, glass cases and kiosks
Designed
The 2010 stand as built: the truss, the green canopy, the cases, visitors
Built, January 2010
The canopy: LOCAL ACTION. GLOBAL SIGNIFICANCE. over the stand
“Local action. Global significance.”
The cars ad on the stand’s large screen
The cars ad, on the stand’s screen

Local action. Global significance.

Department of Municipal Affairs, with the municipalities of Abu Dhabi City, Al Ain City and the Western Region · 2010, carried to 2013 · campaign by AntBrush, creative direction Antoni Gerges, with the team

Explore the campaign

The series, as it ran

In the newspapers.

As placed in the press, from our case study.

The cars ad on a newspaper page
The cars, in the press
The tree ad on a newspaper page
The tree, in the press
The city ad on a newspaper page, towers of thumbprints, LOCAL ACTION. GLOBAL SIGNIFICANCE. under it
The city, in the press
The Fire Code and Energy Conservation Code posters lying on an open newspaper
The two code posters, with the press
The tree ad printed and held in two hands
The tree, printed
The cars ad printed and held up in two hands
The cars, printed
The invitation ad: a thumbprint whose ridges hold the city and a bridge
The invitation ad

The invitation and the kit

The invitation: the tree of thumbprints, LEAVE YOUR IMPRINT
The invitation
The VIP press kit: a hard folder, a city of thumbprints on its cover, an orange strap
The VIP press kit
The kraft bookmark, LEAVE YOUR IMPRINT, and the green card: World Future Energy Summit 2010, Hall 4, Stand A8, 18–21 January 2010
The bookmark: Hall 4, Stand A8, 18–21 January 2010
The VIP gift: a solar-powered phone charger and its box, printed with the tree
The VIP gift: a solar charger
The giveaways: white and green T-shirts with the thumbprint, a carrier bag, a pen, a USB stick, a folder
Giveaways: T-shirts, a bag, a pen, a USB stick
The two-panel flyer: We’re leaving a positive mark on our Emirate’s growth, Leave your imprint
The flyer
The micro-site’s home page on a screen: the cars ad, the department’s projects
The micro-site, as designed, before its copy was written

2010 to 2013

The city kept the print for four years.

It lit the 2011 pavilion and covered the 2013 brochure. For 2013 the tree gathered the city’s energy around it.

The 2011 pavilion: the tree of the thumbprint on a lit box beside the codes’ glass case
2011: the tree, lit, in the pavilion
The 2013 brochure cover: the tree whose crown is a thumbprint, LOCAL ACTION. GLOBAL SIGNIFICANCE.
2013: the brochure’s cover
The 2013 brochure: the tree whose crown is a thumbprint, the city’s energy around it in small circles, a bus, a truck, water, power lines, books at its roots, LOCAL ACTION. GLOBAL SIGNIFICANCE. TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT
2013: the brochure, as presented
The 2013 roll-up: the thumbprint tree with the city’s energy around it, LOCAL ACTION. GLOBAL SIGNIFICANCE.
2013: the roll-up, as presented
The 2013 pavilion, whole · rebuilt in 3D from its plan, design renders, artwork and photographs · 12 s, no sound
The energy tunnel as built: a white tunnel lit along its floor and below its ceiling, its walls lined with large panels, the first reading From the source of all energy; visitors walk through it, the exhibition hall around it.
Energy tunnel, as built · Abu Dhabi · 2013
The whole pavilion from the front, in its final render: the round drum at the centre with the city skyline around its upper band, the guest deck and its rail, green-framed panels along the front, the mouth of the energy tunnel on the right.
The whole pavilion, as designed · the final render, 2013

World Future Energy Summit · Abu Dhabi · 2010–2015

The capital’s pavilion, five times in six years.

For the Department of Municipal Affairs, Abu Dhabi (today the Department of Municipalities and Transport), at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. Through AntBrush, the team and I delivered the concept, the design, the screens and the build.

From the source of all energy.

Zone 1: a lit tunnel, 36 feet long, lined with the story of energy, panel by panel.

Walk through it · rebuilt in 3D from the 2013 plan, the printed artwork and the photograph · 10 s, no sound
The final design render of the tunnel: a white round tunnel lit along its floor, coloured panels inside, figures walking through it.
Designed · the tunnel in the final render, 2013
The tunnel’s artwork, whole: From the source of all energy, then panels on the sun, fossil fuels, power and water, from the earliest sources to today’s city.
The tunnel’s artwork, whole, as printed along its walls · 2013

A drum on two levels.

At the centre, the department and its three municipalities below; a guest deck above, reached by a bridge.

The final design render inside the drum: green fins with lit edges, a round column with a screen, armchairs under a printed ceiling.
Designed · inside the drum, in the final render
The 2013 drum as built: glass and lit green fins on the ground floor, a city skyline on its upper band, a blue touch-screen kiosk in front.
The drum, as built · January 2013
Explore the pavilions

A summit that heads of state open.

Every January, Abu Dhabi hosts the World Future Energy Summit, the Gulf’s clean-energy summit. Presidents and prime ministers open it; governments and energy companies fill its halls.

  1. 2010Mohamed Nasheed, MaldivesOur pavilion
  2. 2011Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Iceland
    Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh    Our pavilion
  3. 2012Wen Jiabao, China
    Kim Hwang-sik, South Korea
  4. 2013François Hollande, France
    Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina    Our pavilion
  5. 2014Macky Sall, Senegal
    Ernest Bai Koroma, Sierra Leone    Our pavilion
  6. 2015Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, EgyptOur pavilion
  7. 2016Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexico
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The names are leaders who opened or addressed the summit in that year, as reported at the time. They are not visitors to our pavilion. The summit is hosted by Masdar at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre; from 2013 it opened Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

  • 2010: the Presidency of the Maldives, address of 18 January 2010.
  • 2011: the President of Iceland’s speech at the summit, 17 January 2011; The Financial Express, 20 January 2011.
  • 2012: The National, 16 January 2012.
  • 2013: Dubai Government Protocol, 15 January 2013; Masdar.
  • 2014: The National, 20 January 2014; ENB (IISD), 20 January 2014.
  • 2015: Masdar, 19 January 2015.
  • 2016: State House, Seychelles, 18 January 2016; UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Trusted, edition after edition.

The capital’s municipal authority, edition after edition: 2010, 2011, 2013 (won by public tender), 2014, 2015.

Department of Municipal Affairs, Abu Dhabi, as it was then; today the Department of Municipalities and Transport. With the municipalities of Abu Dhabi City, Al Ain City and the Western Region (today Al Dhafra Region).

  1. The 2010 stand: a giant open book of the building code standing on its corner, visitors walking past it under a white truss.
    2010Hall 4, Stand A8: the code book
  2. The 2011 pavilion: walls of green glass, a lit box with a tree made of a fingerprint, touch kiosks on a white floor.
    2011The Atrium: a green glass pavilion
  3. The 2013 pavilion: the drum, its ground floor of glass and green fins, a city skyline around its upper band.
    2013Won by public tender: 5,600 sq ft
  4. The 2014 design: a red stand of curved walls, a rock wall and screens, seen from above.
    2014The design: twenty topics
  5. 72 × 43 ft22 × 13 m
    2015Stand 4440, for four municipal bodies
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2010: the campaign’s own bookmark prints the stand, Hall 4, Stand A8; our photographs of it were edited in April 2010. 2011: our checklist to the department, our photographs of 18 and 19 January 2011, and Al Ittihad’s photograph of the pavilion, 19 January 2011; the department was the summit’s Platinum Sponsor that year, “for the third consecutive year”. 2013: won by public tender, Tender 19/2012, and built to our design. 2014: the content and the creative, delivered on 18 January 2014. 2015: Stand 4440, 72 × 43 ft, shared by the department and the three municipalities, delivered on 24 January 2015.

2012 was not ours for the department: that year the same team designed ADNOC’s stand (below).

One city, in three zones.

Sixty-six by eighty-five feet. Walk in through the source of energy, reach the department at the centre, leave by the future.

The exhibit plan, 20 by 26 metres: Zone 1, sun, power and water, along the left; Zone 2, the department, a circle in the middle; Zone 3, the future, on the right; coloured lines join topics around them: transport, energy, district cooling, waste, food, water, materials, industry, research.
The exhibit plan · December 2012: 66 × 85 ft, three zones
The concept model in white on black: a long tube and an hourglass funnel in front, the round drum in the middle with a bridge to a raised deck, thin towers around it like a city.
The concept model · December 2012: the tunnel, the funnel, the drum and the city’s towers
The final design seen from above, as scanned from the tender papers: the tunnel of five modules along the left edge, the round drum in the middle, the guest deck and its stair on the right, the bridge between them, coloured paths across the floor.
The final design · from above, in the tender’s bill of quantities, January 2013

Touch screens, from the first edition.

Touch kiosks from 2010. In 2014, four touch presentations; in 2015, seven, one for each code.

Two white curved touch kiosks standing in a bed of pebbles, their screens lit.
2010 · touch kiosks on a bed of pebbles
The last page of a 2014 touch presentation: a city skyline drawn in thin lines on the department’s maroon.
2014 · a touch presentation, its last page

The codes, launched there.

Abu Dhabi’s new building codes went public on this floor: the code book in 2010, the launch in 2011. By 2015, one touch presentation for each code.

The codes’ own campaign, and their 2011 hologram presentation: the Building Codes page

The code book as a sculpture: the International Energy Conservation Code, a red cover with a world map, standing on its corner taller than the visitors.
2010 · the energy code, as a book you walk around
A glass case of green panes holding the new code books, under a lit sign.
2011 · the new codes, in a glass case

Five zones, twenty topics.

Water, energy, materials, transport and world resources: in 2014 the stand gave every project the city showed its place in one of five zones.

The twenty topics

Energy: Energy Code, Property Maintenance Code, Comprehensive Cooling Plan, Sector E3, LED lighting

Transport: New Addressing System, Salam Street Tunnel, Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Traffic controls

Materials: Asset Management Framework, Building codes: a 50-year life, Cold recycled asphalt, Recycled crushed aggregate, Geogrids, Construction waste, Cement replacement

Water: Plumbing codes, Private sewage disposal code, Irrigation Masterplan, Landscape Masterplan

The names are the 2014 topics, in the words of the delivery.

Others we served on the same floor.

Across the aisle, the same team designed ADNOC’s stand in 2012 and Abu Dhabi Chamber’s in 2013, both built by Marcoms.

ADNOC’s stand at the 2012 summit: a white two-storey stand with a blue band, an arch of frames, a crowd of visitors in front.
ADNOC, 2012 · as built, 17 January 2012
The ADNOC stand’s round glass tower, visitors walking around it.
ADNOC · the glass tower
The ADNOC design render: the white stand with its arch and tower.
ADNOC · the design
The Abu Dhabi Chamber design for 2013: teal curved walls rising like sails over a white floor.
Abu Dhabi Chamber, 2013 · the design
The Abu Dhabi Chamber stand as built, teal walls over the hall floor.
Abu Dhabi Chamber · as built, January 2013
The scope

What we delivered.

Five editions for the capital’s municipal system, from the campaign to the stand, the screens and the films.

Idea & campaign

  • “Leave your imprint”: the fingerprint tree, 2010 to 2013
  • Posters, invitations and ads in The National and Al Ittihad
  • Brochures, bags and gifts
  • Micro-sites, 2010, 2011 and 2013

Space

  • The stand: 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015
  • 2013: the energy tunnel, the drum and the guest deck, 5,600 sq ft
  • 2014: the layout and the wall graphics of five zones
  • 2015: Stand 4440, 3,100 sq ft, for four municipal bodies

Screens & film

  • Touch presentations: 2011; four in 2014; seven in 2015
  • The team and I also delivered six documentary films as part of the 2014 exhibition programme.
  • Seven films and the coverage film, 2015
  • The hologram presentation of the codes, 2011
  • The 2010 poster: a tree whose crown is a green fingerprint, over the words Local action, global significance.
    The fingerprint tree, 2010
  • The 2014 advertisement: Abu Dhabi in large green letters on a blue sky, An energy sufficient emirate, Visit us at our WFES booth at ADNEC 20 to 22 Jan 2014.
    The 2014 advertisement
  • The roof sticker of the 2013 drum: the city’s energy cycle drawn as a circle of buildings, water and power.
    The drum’s roof sticker, 2013

From the invoices, delivery notes and tender papers of each edition, and the photographs of the stands.

The result.

Seven summits, 2010 to 2016. The capital’s pavilion five times, won by public tender in 2013, shared in 2015 by four municipal bodies on one stand.

5editions of the capital’s pavilion, 2010 to 2015
5,600sq ft in 2013, won by public tender
20topics on one stand, 2014
7touch presentations and seven films, 2015

Sources: the department’s tender, 19/2012, its variation and bill of quantities, 23 January 2013; the invoice of 27 January 2014; the four invoices and the delivery note of 24 January 2015.

Back to the pavilion
RoleAntoni Gerges
Creative Director, Brand & Experiential
Made byThe team and I, through AntBrush, Abu Dhabi: concept, design, campaign, screens, films and the build.
Campaign“Leave your mark”, World Future Energy Summit 2010: creative direction Antoni Gerges, with the AntBrush team, Abu Dhabi.
ForDepartment of Municipal Affairs, Abu Dhabi (today the Department of Municipalities and Transport), with Abu Dhabi City, Al Ain City and Western Region (today Al Dhafra Region) municipalities. Also at the summit: ADNOC (2012) and Abu Dhabi Chamber (2013), built by Marcoms.
CreditsPhotographs and renders: the stands as designed and built, from AntBrush’s records.
The touch app, as built

The touch app for the municipalities’ EHS division, 2014, 66 screens: designed and written by AntBrush; programmed by Vertex Tech.

Next projectAbu Dhabi International Building CodesEight codes, one building.