The UAE’s National Media Council (NMC) has selected Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava’s falcon-inspired design for the UAE pavilion for Dubai’s Expo 2020.

The design was approved by a jury including representatives from the NMC, the Expo 2020 Dubai team, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) and one of the Expo’s leading developers, Dubai-based Emaar Properties.

Nine architectural firms submitted 11 concepts during the seven-month design competition managed by Masdar.

The pavilion is expected to cover up to 15,000 square metres and will include numerous exhibition areas, an auditorium, food and beverage outlets, and VIP lounges. It will be located facing the Al-Wasl Plaza, which lies at the centre of the 2 million-square-metre exhibition zone.

Calatrava was selected to design a new tall tower for Emaar Properties at its Dubai Creek Harbour development earlier this year. The tower will be taller than the Burj Khalifa, which is the world’s tallest building at 828 metres.

In March, Dubai appointed the UK’s Foster+Partners and Grimshaw Architects, and Denmark’s Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) to design three of the Expo 2020 pavilions.

Foster+Partners will design the ‘mobility’ pavilion, while Grimshaw Architects and BIG will design the ‘sustainability’ and ‘opportunity’ pavilions respectively.

The companies won a global competition launched in July last year by Emaar Properties.

In late 2015, the Dubai Expo 2020 Bureau appointed US consultancy Aecom to provide planning services for the Expo 2020 site.

The appointment followed the award of another consultancy deal to US-based Parsons International in August for the infrastructure design and supervision at the Expo site. Some preparatory work on the site has already started, including fencing and earthworks.

The Expo site is one of Dubai’s most high-profile projects at the moment and includes a 1.68-square-kilometre ticketed area.