From UAE to Japan: Women’s Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka has roots in Dubai's world's fair

Japan's crowd-pleasing pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai has been transported from the Middle East to the Far East to wow visitors five years on at the latest world's fair in Osaka.

The white origami-inspired structure has been repurposed as the Women's Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, serving to build on the strong cultural connections between the past two event hosts.

The translucent membrane-like structure that combines both Japanese and Middle Eastern geometric patterns was among the most popular sites of the Dubai Expo.

The geometric motifs were reassembled by a renowned Japanese architect into the Women's Pavilion to forge a link between two global expositions in the UAE and Japan.

“I wanted to express Japanese reality as it is for our generation, as our consciousness is not entirely immersed in Japan. We are a global mix and a distinct kind of Japanese-ness has arisen from that mix,” said Yuko Nagayama, who conceived both the Japan pavilion at the Dubai Expo and the Osaka project that tells stories of women, empowerment and gender equality.

A stunning example of adaptive architecture, the facade that drew millions in Dubai has been reutilised in Osaka and is drawing curious visitors once again.

Ms Nagayama said she designed it merging traditional Arabesque and Japanese patterns to reflect the connections with cultures of the Middle East.

Tradition mixed with modernity

At the Osaka Expo that opened in April, the remodelled pavilion sits beside the world’s largest wooden ring that encircles hundreds of national pavilions.

About 10,000 steel rods and ball joints were given a new lease of life and reassembled at the new site in Japan to inspire others to conserve and recycle.

The origami cubes that knit into a tightly-closed frame at the Dubai Expo have opened up in Osaka almost like windows looking over the Expo site.

“We saw this as a great opportunity to show the potential of reusing material,” said Ms Nagayama.

The facade draws inspiration from Japanese kumiko woodwork, a traditional technique that assembles thin slats of timbre without using nails.

“I hope the Women’s Pavilion will be a starting point, and eventually the issues that women face will be resolved and the next generation will no longer need a separate pavilion,” she said.

Core message

Instead of water bodies that surrounded the pavilion in Dubai, green spaces have been created by replanting shrubs and plants from the mountains surrounding Kansai and Osaka.

The play of light and shade on the origami exterior lends it a different feel when lit up at night and under the glare of the sun.

The core message is a call for a bright future with mutual respect in which everyone, irrespective of gender, has the opportunity to reach their full potential and live together in harmony.

“The idea to use plants is about nurturing so people can take a pause in our Japanese garden which is a quieter space and look down over at the expo below,” said Emmanuelle Begue, the Cartier Women’s Pavilion venue deputy lead. “We want people to browse and get immersed in the experience.”

Once the Expo ends, the plants and trees will be replanted in a forest outside Osaka.

The Women’s Pavilion in collaboration with Cartier is a project of Japan’s Ministry of Economy and Trade and the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition.

The idea of a women’s pavilion dates back to the Expo 1873 Vienna as a powerful expression for women to converge, showcase their work, ideas and highlight their rights.

At Osaka, the pavilion seeks to stimulate the senses with canvas, stone and plant art work using storytelling to amplify the voices of women, train the spotlight on their contributions and empower the next generation.

Visitors can select various paths, watch a series of video and audio messages from women lawyers, activists, artists, entrepreneurs and leaders.

“You can listen to a woman who explains what it is like being a refugee and coming from a country at war, the women talk about the environment, the challenges we face, there are so many different layers,” Ms Begue said.

“We are working on the theme of togetherness and want everyone to feel involved.”

Award-winning British artist Es Devlin, the global artistic lead of the Women’s Pavilion, said the focus was on their transformative power.

Ms Devlin had conceptualised the UK pavilion at the Dubai Expo where visitors were asked to contribute a word and the text was broadcast across a massive wooden conical structure.

“I’ve always viewed World Expos as a collection of unique musical instruments, where each pavilion sings and reverberates well beyond its initial six-month lifespan,” Ms Devlin said in a bulletin on women released by the BIE, the organisation that supervises the World Expos.

She said the stories shared in Osaka would engage visitors as “facts are far more effective when they are felt.”

“I feel the impact could be immense as the pavilion really has the ability to touch, reach and make a difference. The pavilion is for all. It's using the word woman as a lens to explore specific challenges and to celebrate specific achievements.”

Plans for parts of the structure to have a life beyond the two expos are being worked out.

The pavilion has more than 150 programmes and workshops around gender, art, culture, financial education scheduled through to October.