A 216 m² Saudi national pavilion at the 17th Trade Fair of the OIC Member States in Dakar, Senegal, 13–19 June 2022. It was delivered by the team that now designs and fabricates under the Echo Expo name.
The project
At 216 m², this is the second largest structure in our record, behind only the 228 m² nonwovens stand at INDEX in Geneva. It ran for seven days — roughly twice the length of a typical European trade fair — which changes almost every material decision on the build.
A national pavilion is a different brief from a stand
A company stand has one occupant and one message. A national pavilion hosts many companies under one identity, and the design has to hold both at once:
- The country reads first. The national identity has to be visible from across the hall, above and around everything the individual exhibitors do
- Each participant still needs their own defensible space — a counter, a wall, somewhere to put literature and stand with a visitor
- Equity between participants matters. Positions are allocated. A layout where one company clearly has the best corner creates a problem for the organiser, not for us. However, it is our layout that creates it
- There is usually an official function: a delegation visit, a ribbon, a press moment. The pavilion needs somewhere that can hold a group of people without closing the rest of it
How equity between participants was actually built
The pavilion ran the national identity — the Saudi Made brand — as one continuous illuminated fascia band along the whole frontage, above a row of identically specified booths. Each participant received the same thing: a branded counter, wall shelving, a wall-mounted screen, a table and seating.
That is a deliberate answer to the hardest political problem in pavilion design. When every unit is identical, no allocation is a better allocation, and the organiser is not fielding complaints about who got the corner. The country reads as one exhibitor from the aisle, and each company still has a defensible space to stand in and talk.
The specification, block by block
The pavilion was not one large room. It was four blocks, each 18 metres long and 6 metres deep, which is what let the layout stay symmetrical while the participant count moved during planning. Within it, the authority’s own stand ran 18 by 3 metres — 54 m².
| Element | As built |
|---|---|
| Total pavilion area | 216 m², four blocks of 18 m × 6 m |
| Authority stand | 18 m × 3 m — 54 m² |
| Back wall | 3 metres high, MDF in semi-gloss white, lit from within the bay |
| Identity signage | Three hanging signs, 18 metres long and 40 cm high |
| Flooring | 5 cm raised platform, melamine surface, 96 running metres of white aluminium skirting |
| Back of house | Two 3 × 3 × 3 m rooms — one fitted as a meeting room, one with sink and drainage |
One line in that specification says more about the venue than the rest of it put together: 250 m² of protective sheeting laid over the floor during construction. In a European hall you protect a finished surface. In Dakar the surface was raw, and the platform going down on top of it had to come up clean seven days later.
What seven days changes
A three-day fair is survivable with finishes that are merely presentable. A seven-day event is not. Over a week, Floor coverings show traffic lanes. Counter edges chip. Worse, anything touched up on site starts to show exactly where.
A longer run also means the pavilion must be maintainable while occupied. That means cleaning access, replenishment storage, and consumables restocked without dismantling a display. Over 216 m² and seven days, storage stops being a cupboard and becomes part of the plan.
Building in West Africa
Working outside the established European fairgrounds changes the assumptions. Local material supply, hire stock, rigging services and skilled labour cannot be taken for granted the way they can at a major European venue. As a result, the practical consequence is straightforward: what you do not bring, you may not get.
That argues for prefabrication, for shipping complete rather than in parts, and for carrying spares of the things that get damaged in transit. It is the same discipline that makes a stand reusable — build it to be assembled, not to be made.
Why it matters
This is our West Africa project and our largest national pavilion. Alongside our work in Kigali, Rwanda and our Casablanca workshop, it means our African experience is not theoretical.
Services delivered
- Pavilion design and 3D visualisation
- Fabrication of structure, counters and display elements
- Printed graphics and national branding
- Furniture, flooring and dressing
- Freight and logistics
- Installation and dismantling
Frequently asked questions
Do you build national and regional pavilions?
Yes, including a 216 m² national pavilion hosting multiple participating companies. Tell us the number of participants and whether positions are allocated or sold, because that determines the layout before anything else does.
Will you build outside Europe?
Yes. We have built in West Africa, East Africa, Morocco and the Middle East as well as across Europe. Outside the major fairgrounds we prefabricate and ship complete rather than relying on local supply.
Our event runs longer than a normal trade fair. Does that change the build?
Yes, materially. Specify harder-wearing floor and edge finishes, plan cleaning and replenishment access, and budget storage as part of the layout rather than an afterthought.
Looking for a national pavilion builder?
Tell us the venue, the dates and the area, and we will come back with a design and a build plan. Talk to us about your pavilion, or see our team’s experience.