Furukawa Pavilion, Expo ’70. Image © Takato Marui via Wikipedia under license CC BY-SA 2.0
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https://www.archdaily.com/1030730/designing-the-future-again-what-the-55-year-return-of-the-world-expo-to-osaka-reveals
The 2025 Osaka Expo has captured widespread attention—not only for its architectural ambition and spectacle, but also for breaking records and generating controversy. Its most iconic feature, a monumental timber ring designed by Sou Fujimoto, has already made headlines as a Guinness World Record-breaking wooden structure. Built on the reclaimed island of Yumeshima, the site has attracted praise and critique in equal measure. Beyond its awe-inspiring 2-kilometer circumference—parts of which extend dramatically over the water—the structure has also drawn concerns, including questions about health & safety, extreme heat, and swarms of insects that may affect the visitor experience.
This year also marks a significant anniversary: the 55th year since the 1970 Osaka Expo, held under drastically different socio-economic conditions. Comparing these two expos—both hosted in the same city—offers a rare opportunity to reflect on how the rhetoric, curatorial themes, and architectural ambitions of world expos have evolved over time. From “Progress and Harmony for Mankind” in 1970 to “Designing Future Society for Our Lives” in 2025, the shift in thematic focus reveals changing global priorities. Meanwhile, the scale and nature of architectural involvement have also transformed, from the futuristic visions of Japanese Metabolism to a more internationally dispersed group of designers concerned with sustainability, technology, and civic engagement.
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It is uncommon for a single city to host multiple World Expos—modern examples are rare outside historical precedents like Paris, Brussels, or Chicago. In the context of contemporary society, Osaka stands as the first city to stage two such global exhibitions decades apart. So, what has changed in the world of architecture and exposition? In 1970, high modernism and Metabolism shaped the architectural language of the expo; the Pritzker Prize hadn’t even been established yet. Since then, six Japanese architects have won the award, and Japan’s architectural culture has become globally influential. The 2025 Expo, then, is not only a return to Osaka but also a mirror reflecting how architecture—and the ambitions of global expositions—have shifted over the past half-century.
Related Article Expo Osaka 2025 Opens in Japan as a Laboratory for Future Society 
Entry Ticket, Expo ’70. Image © 東京オリンピック１９６４ via Wikipedia under license CC Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0A New World Stage: Expo ’70 and the Rise of Postwar Japan
Fifty-five years ago, the 1970 Osaka Expo was held under vastly different global conditions. It was a time before the internet, during a period of rapid technological advancement and the height of the space race. The world was defined by the post-war economic boom, particularly in Japan and the United States, both rising as economic powerhouses. This context shaped the optimistic and forward-looking spirit of Expo ’70.
Thailand_Pavilion, Expo ’70. Image © Takato Marui via Wikipedia under license CC BY-SA 2.0
Notably, Expo ’70 was the first World Expo ever held in Asia. While earlier expos had taken place in the broader Asia-Pacific—such as in Australia—Osaka marked the first time a World Expo was hosted in an Asian country with deep-rooted, non-Western cultural traditions. This was a symbolic and historic moment: a clear indication that Asia was stepping into the global spotlight not only economically but also culturally and politically. For context, between the 1850s and 1970s, there had been 28 official World Expositions—and only on the 19th occasion was one finally held in Asia.
This milestone was matched by a surge of technological ambition. The early development of ARPANET—the precursor to the internet—and massive investments in space exploration, driven by the U.S.-Soviet space race, created a fertile backdrop for futurist optimism. Japan, experiencing its “economic miracle,” had become the world’s second-largest economy by GDP. Expo ’70 capitalized on this momentum and was envisioned as a spectacular showcase of progress.
Textiles Pavilion, Expo ’70. Image © Takato Marui via Wikipedia under license CC BY-SA 2.0
Kodak + Ricoh Pavilion, Expo ’70. Image © Takato Marui via Wikipedia under license CC BY-SA 2.0
The Expo indeed delivered on that ambition. A revisit to the photos of the Expo ’70, one almost cannot believe that all these intricate, detailed, precise, yet massive steel and metal structures were possible already 55 years ago. In comparison – out of pure admiration of the quality of these structures without considering its relative cost, sustainability & waste, as well as lower than current structural, fire, and safety stadnards – it almost overshadows many of our contemporary structures. Have our society achieved the forward looking admiration that set the tone of architectural and economic development of the world in the 70s?
Expo ’70 and the Architecture of Technological Optimism
From the moment one approached the Osaka Expo in the 1970s, a sense of both strangeness and exhilaration set the tone. Visitors were greeted by Kenzo Tange’s monumental Space Frame Festival Plaza—a soaring, skeletal canopy suspended high above the ground—as well as the surreal and iconic Tower of the Sun by artist Tarō Okamoto. The pairing was unmistakably Japanese: bold, eccentric, and symbolic. Together, these structures reflected the spirit of the era—an age defined by the space race, technological ambition, and a drive toward futurism.
Furukawa Pavilion, Expo ’70. Image © Takato Marui via Wikipedia under license CC BY-SA 2.0
Tange’s steel space frame roof was not only a radical reinterpretation of civic and public architecture, but also an extraordinary feat of engineering—remarkable even by today’s standards. Spanning 291.6 by 108 meters and supported by just six lattice columns, the transparent truss structure hovered 30 meters above ground. The entire 4,800-ton canopy was assembled on-site at ground level and then elevated into place using pneumatic jacks that climbed the columns—this process very much reminds us of the structure built by Mies just two years ago, the Neue Nationalgalerie. To put this in perspective, one of the most iconic structural roofs of the era—Mies van der Rohe’s Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin—had opened just two years earlier in 1968, with a roof span of only 64 by 64 meters supported by eight columns.
Beyond the main approach, other pavilions at the Osaka Expo similarly conveyed a collective excitement for high modernism and the emerging Metabolist movement in architecture. The Takara Pavilion, designed by Kisho Kurokawa, embodied the allure of modular, prefabricated systems—an experimental approach that foreshadowed his completion of the Nakagin Capsule Tower just two years later. Its intricate structural logic and forward-looking sensibility captured the optimism of an era fascinated by adaptable, technological futures.
Takara Group Pavilion, Expo ’70. Image © m-louis .® via Wikipedia under license CC BY-SA 2.0
Toshiba-IHI Pavilion, Expo ’70. Image © Takato Marui via Wikipedia under license CC BY-SA 2.0
Even the Switzerland Pavilion, designed by Willi Walter, Charlotte Schmid, and Paul Leber, expressed similar ambitions. Described as a “stylized aluminum tree,” the structure stood 68 feet tall and was outfitted with 32,000 electric lamps. Its lightweight, cantilevered steel construction and luminous exterior echoed the broader themes of elevation, futurism, and spectacle that defined much of the Expo’s architectural language.
Switzerland Pavilion, Expo ’70. Image © Takato Marui via Wikipedia under license CC BY-SA 2.0From Spectacle to Stewardship: Expo 2025’s Shift Toward Sustainable Futures
Some 55 years later, the tone of the Expo has shifted dramatically. The world now faces new paradigms—emphasizing co-existence with nature, sustainable development, public health, and the pursuit of equal opportunity across generations. Yet the ambition for structural and architectural innovation remains—now guided by a deeper consciousness of environmental responsibility. Sou Fujimoto’s monumental ring structure for Expo 2025 exemplifies this evolution. Spanning over 600 meters in diameter (by comparison, Norman Foster’s Apple Park measures 461 meters), the structure breaks records, pushes engineering boundaries, and continues the Expo’s legacy of imagining the future through bold and more sustainable design practices.
Grand Ring by Sou Fujimoto, Osaka Expo 2025. Image © Expo 2025 , OBAYASHI CORPORATION Co., Ltd, photo by shinwa Co., Ltd
Now recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest wooden architectural structure ever built, the ring pavilion embodies both technological ambition and material humility. Its construction from timber speaks to a renewed respect for natural resources. Yet its location—Yumeshima, a reclaimed island—also invites reflection. As an artificial landscape now tasked with hosting an exhibition about sustainability, Yumeshima poses a central dilemma of our time: how to develop responsibly while acknowledging our attempts to control, reshape, and ultimately coexist with nature and the Earth itself.
Several other pavilions at Expo 2025 echo this tension between innovation and stewardship. Kengo Kuma, long celebrated for his sensitivity to materiality, has designed two major national pavilions. The Portugal Pavilion, paying tribute to the ocean, utilizes sustainable materials such as rope and recycled fishing nets to evoke the fluidity of waves, expressing a commitment to circular economies. Kuma’s Qatar Pavilion similarly weaves together traditions from both Japan and Qatar, highlighting their shared maritime heritage through hand-crafted elements that blend culture and craft.
Portugal Pavilion by Kengo Kuma, Osaka Expo 2025. Image Courtesy of aicep Portugal Global
Qatar Pavilion by Kengo Kuma, Osaka Expo 2025. Image © Iwan Baan. Courtesy of Qatar Museums.
These pavilions, in their own ways, resonate with Fujimoto’s ring, creating symbolic and literal connections between land and sea. Nikken Sekkei’s Japan Pavilion also embraces this cyclical thinking—centering on the idea of life as a network of interconnected loops. The concept of life cycles is explored both philosophically and materially: the structure is designed to behave like a “living” architecture, allowing visitors to witness its gradual decomposition and regeneration. In this way, it poetically embodies the Expo’s larger themes of sustainability, impermanence, and the shared future of humanity and the planet.
Small Structures, Big Ideas: Young Voices at the Forefront of Osaka Expo 2025
One of the other notable focuses of the 2025 Osaka Expo is its commitment to spotlighting the next generation of architects. In addition to showcasing national pavilions and landmark structures, the Expo has deliberately created opportunities for emerging voices to engage with public space in imaginative and meaningful ways—most notably through the design of rest areas and public toilets. Twenty young architects have been commissioned to design a series of small-scale facilities across the site, including restrooms and shaded seating zones.
Rest Area 4 by Schenk Hattori ＋ Niimori Jamison, Osaka Expo 2025. Image © Mono Tung
These 20 interventions, though modest in scale, reflect diverse interpretations of the Expo’s broader themes: sustainability, nature, and the cycles of life. More than just functional amenities, they serve as testing grounds for the values, aesthetics, and ambitions of a new generation. Their designs propose alternative futures—ones rooted not in spectacle, but in responsiveness, care, and thoughtful contributions to everyday public infrastructure.
Mirage in Yumeshima by Pondedge, Farm and Nod, Osaka Expo 2025. Image © Mono Tung
We invite you to check out ArchDaily’s comprehensive coverage of the Expo Osaka 2025.
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