Less than four months before the start of the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Japan, construction crews are working around the clock to build more than 50 country-specific pavilions—many made of timber for rapid assembly, disassembly, and reassembly — including the Uzbekistan Pavilion, designed by the Stuttgart-based ATELIER BRÜCKNER architectural studio.
“Throughout the Expo, the pavilion will serve as a laboratory empowering visitors to imagine ways to work towards a sustainable future,” according to a statement from ATELIER BRÜCKNER, with the two-story structure — utilising fully modular, reusable wooden elements “will be disassembled and reconstructed in Uzbekistan for various uses, including a studio, a workshop, and a school.”
In keeping with the interpretation of the Expo’s motto – How to live in the future and how to be happy – the pavilion – designed for the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Uzbekistan Art and Cultural Development Foundation, “positions itself as a social and educational centre of knowledge, welcoming people from around the world to engage with the possibilities of a better, more sustainable future.”
Wood Central understands the pavilion has three key elements: the garden, a forest of columns, and a central sculpture connection: “The garden on the ground floor represents Uzbekistan’s landscape and serves as a meeting point for visitors. The columns, symbolic of traditional Uzbek timber craftsmanship, support the modular structure and create a forum for future innovation,” whilst the central sculpture “acts as a connecting element between the roof and the garden, uniting the spaces physically and thematically.”
The largest country expo made from wood is rising fast.
Earlier this month, Wood Central reported that work on the Italian pavilion—the largest to be built entirely from wood – is more than 60% finished, with 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.”
- 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.
