The China Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka takes Chinese Calligraphy as inspiration

Expo Kansai Osaka 2025, with the theme "Building a Future Society, Imagining a Future Life", will open on April 13, 2025. 150 countries and international organizations are expected to participate, and more than 20 million visitors are expected to visit the Expo.

The China Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka takes Chinese Calligraphy as inspiration

Sou Fujimoto is the chief designer of Expo 2025. The pavilion is connected to the national pavilions by a circular walkway with a circumference of 2 km, which can keep out rain and sunlight. On the roof of the cloister, visitors can look out over the sea amid the flowers. Fujimoto said he hoped the design, which will be the largest wooden structure in the world, would add luster to the Expo.

The China Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka takes Chinese Calligraphy as inspiration

A rendering of Expo Kansai 2025, Osaka

The highest point of the cloister is 20 meters high, with an inner diameter of 615 meters and a width of 30 meters. An estimated 20,000 cubic meters of wood will be sourced from both Japan and other countries, resulting in a Japanese-style wooden structure with columns and beams crisscrossed.

The theme also aims to promote co-creation by the international community to design a sustainable society that supports individuals' ideas about the way they want to live. In other words, the Expo will for the first time ask the question bluntly: "What is a happy way of life?" . The Expo is being held at a time when new social challenges are emerging, such as widening economic disparities and intensifying conflicts, as well as advances in science and technology, such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology, that will bring changes to humanity, such as extending life spans. Saving lives, empowering lives and connecting lives are the three major themes of the Expo.

The China Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka takes Chinese Calligraphy as inspiration

Pavilion layout for Kansai Expo 2025, Osaka

The China Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka takes Chinese Calligraphy as inspiration

A concept of the outdoor Plaza for Expo Kansai 2025, Osaka

The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) announced the architectural design of the China Pavilion at a press conference held on April 26, 2023.

The architectural design of China Pavilion, "Chinese Script", was designed and completed by China Architectural Design and Research Institute. The exterior of the building is shaped by the traditional Chinese script and long scroll, which integrates the three main elements of bamboo, Chinese characters and scroll. It shows the spiritual symbol and cultural essence of Chinese civilization, which is the unity of nature and nature, and interprets the core concept of China's unswerving pursuit of green development in the new era.

The China Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka takes Chinese Calligraphy as inspiration

The China Pavilion continues the theme of long books and simple books, and organically combines it with modern exhibition architecture. The progressive exhibition space is like the evolution of civilization, from history to the future. The closed column-free exhibition hall is ingeniously combined with the natural lighting space, creating both virtual and real, which is convenient for exhibition arrangement and creating a wonderful feeling of interaction between man and nature during viewing, echoing the theme of harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

The China Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka takes Chinese Calligraphy as inspiration

The China Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka takes Chinese Calligraphy as inspiration

Since April 2022, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade has been soliciting architectural design proposals for China Pavilion. Academician Cui Kai, the chief architect of China Academy, led the design team to actively participate in the solicitation. After fully soliciting opinions from relevant departments and organizing experts in the fields of architecture, art and culture to repeatedly demonstrate, the architectural design scheme of the China Pavilion with the appearance of "Chinese Calligraphy" was finalized.

The China Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka takes Chinese Calligraphy as inspiration

The Osaka Expo will run from April 13 to October 13, 2025. The China Pavilion will focus on cultural exhibitions and activities to further promote people-to-people exchanges, friendship and people-to-people exchanges between China and the rest of the world, including Japan, and promote common progress of civilizations through exchanges and mutual learning.

This article is reprinted from the public number: Qingnian Architecture, China Architectural Design and Research Institute