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Throughout the history of Expo, each edition has established itself as a device for understanding or anticipating the spirit of the times through its location and thematic focus. Expo 2025 Osaka is no exception, starting with the spectacular The Grand Ring by Sou Fujimoto Architects – the immense open-air wooden structure that contains and circumscribes with a soft roundness that foregoes angles and enclosures, offering shelter and protection while also providing a visionary view of the Expo itself. It is a coherent and majestic design concept in terms of the quality of its execution and precise meaning. While the Grand Ring acts as a powerful symbol, it is nevertheless the culture of pattern that defines the most pronounced signature of the numerous national and thematic proposals. Pattern is a strand of research that has seen the use and reinterpretation of traditional materials as a common thread that, starting from local cultures, acts as an element of differentiation, opportunity, and dynamic identity in relationship. Ultimately, Expo 2025 Osaka entrusts pattern with the role of a repository for the cultural and anthropological signs and symbols of human history, whose relevance extends beyond mere citation, encompassing technical and symbolic innovation as well.
In this context, i-Mesh has articulated an extensive journey of incremental innovation across multiple pavilions, as well as through ancillary exhibitions and cultural initiatives, a journey that is dedicated to culture and environmental compatibility, focusing on resources, climate control, and environmental comfort.
Designed by Mario Cucinella Architects, the Italy Pavilion takes its inspiration from The Ideal City, attributed to Luciano Laurana and housed in the Ducal Palace of Urbino. The pavilion is a permeable space that breathes, engaging in a dynamic dialogue revolving around the relationship between inside and outside, offering a contemporary reflection on the Renaissance ideal of the "Ideal City," an ambitious theme that continues to question the nature of public spaces and their relationship with the community. Here, tradition and future converge in the name of nature, technology, and creativity – a system of values that define Italian culture as we know it – protected by a versatile and functional architectural skin of strikingly bold personality. In Cucinella's design, the façade appears cohesive and integrated, organic, natural like linen or canvas, in continuity and harmony with the materials and aesthetics that the Pavilion ultimately references. The space’s quality of air and climate, alongside its friendly and welcoming atmosphere, offer visitors a sense of well-being that is truly impressive. Beyond its technicalities, this experience introduces a new way of conceptualizing our living environments.
The Future of Life Pavilion, conceived by the android-building scientist, Ishiguro Hiroshi, and designed by architect Jiro Endo, offers a glimpse into the future, exploring alien presences and imaginings on potential extraterrestrial habitability. A visionary work bordering on artist installation, where i-Mesh's experimental pattern interacts with the iridescent liquidity of water, creating a vital system in which carbon fiber becomes a dynamic membrane. The architecture itself resembles a fluid organism, where artifice, nature, and technology can coexist, adapt, and breathe. With its natural cooling capacity, this innovative, lightweight coating serves as a metaphor for a possible future and an ideal harmonious equilibrium.
The Indonesia Pavilion – designed by Samundra and ATA – is a tribute to tradition in its reinterpretation of the "Wien Straw" pattern. A design choice that celebrates the local culture of classic "Rattan," known for its resilience in the most extreme environmental conditions.
While pattern is the common thread of this year’s Expo, i-Mesh's presence goes beyond just design partnerships with the National Pavilions. For many years indeed, the R&D Department has been engaged in projects that bridge the boundaries between arts, languages, and disciplines. Notable for its size and prestige among these projects is the Arazzi Contemporanei Collection, conceived by Cristiano Toraldo di Francia and Alberto Fiorenzi, an open project that lives through continuous endorsements and commissions created by a wide range of artists. For Osaka, the format has been further augmented with 4 new works specifically commissioned and presented at the Italy Pavilion in the project Ars: tradition and innovation, curated by Antonella Nonnis. Showcasing dialogues and interactions between Italy and Japan, the new tapestries have been created by Kengo Kuma, Yuko Nagayama, Tomo Ara, and Migliore+Servetto.
In this context, so rich with inspiration and expertise, the good vibes – that component of study and in-depth exploration of materials, the most promising trends, and emerging sensibilities that underpin global events like Expo – was simply essential.
A Masterclass featuring prominent figures from the international scene thus addressed the general themes of pattern as a universal language.
The Pattern in Architecture: Cultural Orienting Techniques is the title of the exploration dedicated to the semantic and symbolic dimension of pattern in contemporary architecture, where the geometry of signs and symbols serves as decoration, an identity code, and a functional necessity that interweaves history and design innovation.
i-Mesh's articulated presence in Osaka is characterized by the variety of content, all united by the centrality of pattern – the enzyme that places local experiences in the systemic dimension through which communities develop forms and functions, signs and symbols, and architectures over time.
