May 16, 2025
Lessons in Global Design from Expo 2025 Osaka
“In a time of global tension, every possibility of meeting physically in a shared space and celebrating something that can still be described as a cosmopolitan spirit needs to be cherished and taken advantage of.” —Manuel Herz, architect
Reconciling Past and Future; Local and Global
In an age dominated by relentless growth, placeless globalism, and divisive nationalism, several countries highlighted their work to reconcile tradition and modernity. This was especially true of the world’s fastest-growing nations, who seemed to be both compelling themselves to appreciate their pasts (before they disappear), and reminding the world that their histories run deeper than their skyscraper-filled iterations. China has clad its undulating pavilion in vertical bamboo columns, each inscribed with verses from historic Chinese poetry. Saudi Arabia, with the help of Foster + Partners, has created the feel of a traditional Saudi village, with narrow, winding streets, a lush forecourt, and an internal courtyard for both contemplation and events. And the United Arab Emirates focuses attention on its pavilion’s massive columns, made up of bundles of fragrant date palms—a cherished national symbol and a key element of traditional food, craft, and architecture.
A particularly effective fusion of past and future is the Uzbekistan Pavilion, commissioned by the country’s Art and Culture Development Foundation and its chairperson, Gayane Umerova. Designed by German architects Atelier Brückner, the “Garden of Knowledge” embodies the fast-growing country’s development approach, balancing aggressive modernization with thoughtful preservation. (Uzbekistan boasts seven UNESCO world heritage sites, and will host UNESCO’s General Conference in November.) The triangular structure’s first level, which represents the nurturing “soil” of Uzbek culture, is clad in reclaimed blonde bricks, similar to the mud brick used to build the region’s homes, shops, forts, and castles. (Smaller sections of greenish-blue glazed bricks evoke the particularly vivid embellishments of the region’s mosques and palaces.) The upper level, meant to encourage gathering and exchange– a contemporary expression of a caravanserai along the Silk Road—is a “garden” filled with a forest of unvarnished local timber columns inspired by those filling Uzbekistan’s Juma Mosque, in Khiva. Triangular beams merge Uzbek ornament and Japanese dovetail joinery. A giant round platform, filled with interactive video art, connects these worlds, taking visitors almost imperceptibly from the soil to the garden. (In order to gain approval, it had to be permitted as an amusement ride, according to Atelier Bruckner founding partner Shirin Frangoul-Brückner.) The entire pavilion will most likely be reconstructed in New Tashkent, an expansion of Uzbekistan’s capital, according to Umerova.
Perhaps the most visually stunning mix of old and new was architect Lina Gotmeh’s Bahrain Pavilion, “Connecting Seas,” a stunningly modern representation of a traditional dhow. The curving form, composed of 3,000 pieces of unengineered wood connected via wildly intricate, interconnected joinery, sits in a shallow reflecting pool and shelters a lofty atrium. It appears to glow from within thanks to a white fabric cladding that evokes sails. A central timber stair brings visitors through exhibits dedicated to exploring the country’s trades (including pearling), crafts, manufacturing, and ecological efforts. Qatar, too, created a historical boat, with the help of Kengo Kuma, who designed a complex wood structure covered with a rippling veil of white fabric, meeting a reflecting pool with tightly vaulted arches.
The Expo’s signature structure is a latticed wood structure encircling the event known as The Ring—the largest timber structure in the world, measuring more than 2,200 feet in diameter. Fastened primarily via penetrative nuki joints—evocative of traditional Japanese temples and shrines—with steel seismic reinforcement, the collaboration between Expo master plan architect Sou Fujimoto and Tohata Architects & Engineers provides shelter from the elements and helps unify the site. Two levels of walking paths on top provide views of the Expo inside and Osaka Bay outside.
Addressing Global Climate Disaster in Creative Ways
Still, arguably our most pressing disasters are environmental, and a number of pavilions explore remedies not just through their exhibits, but through their construction. (This is especially welcome in a culture of expos and conferences that can be brutally wasteful.) The Trahan Architects–designed United States Pavilion, for instance, incorporates reused steel, fabric, and HVAC systems from dismantled structures from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. These materials will be reused elsewhere in Japan after the fair. Singapore’s bright red “Dream Sphere” is clad in 17,000 overlapping recycled aluminum discs. Shigeru Ban’s Blue Ocean Dome, convened by ZERI (Zero Emission Research Initiative) Japan, explores combatting ocean pollution inside a series of recyclable plastic domes supported by intricate frames of bamboo, paper, and carbon fiber. Japan’s own pavilion, designed by Nikken Sekkei and Oki Sato, is a circle of CLT planks that inside literally eats some of the Expo’s trash via microorganisms that decompose it into biogas. The most notable feature of the Denmark Pavilion, whose facade resembles a giant orb floating in the water, is its powerful exhibits showcasing Danish innovations in managing and even exploiting rising seas, like floating solar panels, autonomous electric boats, aquathermal energy (capturing warmth from surface water), and wave energy conversion systems. The Swiss Pavilion, designed by architect Manuel Herz, consists of four interconnected spheres made of recyclable plastic pillows, supported by a light steel frame and a lot of inflation. It’s likely the most lightweight pavilion in the Expo. While its surface of ETFE and PVC is not green in itself, its ability to be easily recycled or reused elsewhere is. Herz says he is in talks with a Japanese company that hopes to reuse parts of it for future conferences.
Perhaps the best all-around symbol of sustainability was the German Pavilion, designed by Berlin-based LAVA. Its spiraling pathways and stacked series of concentric circles create flowing, open spaces and immediately evoke concepts of recycling and circularity. Those circles’ radial truss ceiling systems, topped by fabric, allowed builders to achieve open-span spaces while using smaller pieces of wood that were easier to produce and reuse. A frame of glulam, spruce, and bamboo will be reused after the event while biomaterial infill of hempcrete, fungal mycelia, and loam can essentially be composted. (The steel foundation can be sold for scrap, an improvement on the concrete foundations of most pavilions at the Expo.) The building’s landscaping and roof gardens will all be returned to a local nursery after the Expo.
“Rather than stating problems and showing different inventions, we tried to integrate those elements into the building itself,” says LAVA principal Tobias Wallisser. “The building becomes a manifesto for doing things in a different way.”
Indeed, if we want to manage our growing crises, we need to do things in a different way—and the Expo specializes in positive innovation, not just in architecture but in health, technology, food, art, and much more. But perhaps the greatest legacy, notes Manuel Herz, is the ability to bring us together.
“In a time of global tension, every possibility of meeting physically in a shared space and celebrating something that can still be described as a cosmopolitan spirit needs to be cherished and taken advantage of,” he says.
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