Ukraine is the latest country to commit to the 2025 World Expo. The war-torn nation will join more than 150 other countries, including Japan (the host), the United States, China, the EU, and Australia, to participate in next year’s exhibit dubbed an “appeal for peace.”
That is according to Hirofumi Yoshimura, the Governor of Osaka, the host of the six-month expo from April to October, who spoke to reporters in Paris last week: “Ukraine is currently in a very difficult situation, but its attendance is meaningful as it serves as an appeal for peace,” Mr Yoshimura told reporters, adding that Russia would not participate in the expo after announcing last year that it was withdrawing from it.
Wood Central understands that Ukraine, currently under siege and short of materials, will use a “Type C” pavilion – using building materials supplied by the Japanese Association for the International Exposition organisers- instead of Ukrainian building materials.
The largest country expo made from wood is rising fast.
The latest commitment comes as construction crews work around the clock to build 50 country-specific pavilions—many from timbers that can be easily disassembled and reassembled at a new location—surrounding the giant timber ring, which “clicked into place” in August. This includes the Italian pavilion—the largest built entirely from wood.
Now more than 60% finished, the pavilion is a modern reinterpretation of the Ideal City of the Renaissance by architect Mario Cucinella, with its theme “Art renegerates Life.” The pavilion, built from cross-laminated timber and glulam, is a “large hangar of knowledge” split into three sections: aerospace, society, and the human being.
“The Italian Pavilion,” according to Mr Cucinella, “is highly sustainable: it is entirely constructed from wood, can be dismantled piece by piece, and each part can be reused elsewhere in the world.”
“(Our exhibit) is aimed at improving the quality of life and promoting sustainability,” according to Mario Vattani, the General Commissioner for Italy’s exhibit, who said the giant timber exhibit was all about “designing future society,” a unique opportunity “to promote Italian excellences in a multitude of sectors.”
The Japanese Pavilion explores the cycle of life through its circular structure.
Designed by Nikken Sekkei, the Japan Pavilion focuses on the concept of “Between Lives” and seeks to embody the cycle of life through its interconnected architecture. The pavilion unfolds across a circular structure constructed from a ring of wooden planks sourced from Japanese cedar that will be repurposed in building projects throughout Japan upon the Expo’s conclusion.
Peering through the slats, visitors can glean both the pavilion’s interior and exterior, bridging the gaps between disparate spaces and visualizing the links between various stages of life.
The pavilion also functions as a “living” organism, incorporating a biogas system that converts Expo waste into energy. Visitors can witness this process through an installation on-site, making visible the cyclical relationship between regeneration and decomposition.
The pavilion also features three distinct zones that guide visitors through the Japanese aesthetic of junkan (meaning “circulation”), which understands life as bound by eternal connections.
“It’s not just us,” the pavilion’s overview states. “When an animal or plant, a thing, even a whole society, nears to the end of its role, part of it is carried on, transforming, taking on a new role. We all live through these connections.”
- To learn more about World Expo, including the Giant Ring – one of the world’s largest timber structures ever assembled, click here for Wood Central’s special feature.
