The Italian Pavilion for Expo 2025 Osaka is presented as a living, regenerative ecosystem, capable of embodying the continuous dialogue among tradition and innovation, art and science, craftsmanship and technology. Designed and built by MCA – Mario Cucinella Architects, the Pavilion is conceived as a dynamic and immersive laboratory, offering a journey through Italy, told via a series of sensory and narrative experiences that actively engage the visitor. More than an exhibition building, the Pavillion is conceived as an urban organism: capable of generating energy, enhancing materials, restoring biodiversity and fostering meaningful relationships. Its modular wooden structure, low-impact technologies and adaptability for post-Expo reuse make it a concrete example of reversible architecture, centered on the interaction among people, nature, and technology.
The pavilion represents a living ecosystem that embodies the intersection of tradition and innovation, beauty and sustainability, shaping a new model of a sustainable and circular city. It is not just a building, but a true laboratory open to the public, designed to offer an immersive and multisensory experience, inviting visitors to discover Italian culture. Imagined as a ‘Hangar of Knowledge’, the pavilion will host artistic, scientific, entrepreneurial, and social experiments. The space will also highlight and stimulate the creative DNA that belongs to Italy and is admired worldwide. Pieces of national heritage will be unveiled, deconstructed, and reinterpreted in unexpected and contemporary ways.
Mario Cucinella, Architect and Founder of MCA, commented: “Designing the Italian Pavilion for Expo 2025 Osaka is a unique opportunity to create a true stage, not only to showcase the culture, history, and innovation of our country but also to establish a space for fostering connections: for future dialogue, for strengthening cultural, social, and economic ties. Aligned with one of the Expo’s themes, ‘Saving Lives’, the project and its architectural and technological content as well as the choices of material propose a renewed balance among humanity, nature and technology. The Italian Pavilion can become a powerful tool to promote, inspire action, and establish new synergies for the development of a more sustainable future. It represents a new vision of society and the city: a living organism where the relationships among people, art, the environment and history can come alive.”
Architecture and Formal Language
The Italian Pavilion presents itself as an open, permeable and welcoming architecture that reinterprets the values of Italian hospitality and landscape in a contemporary key. The design develops a fluid and modular language, where transparency, natural light and organic materials define the space and shape the visitor’s experience. The main body is organized around a large entrance foyer, framed by a transparent and breathable façade that filters natural light while shielding the interiors. The exterior envelope features a semi-transparent textile façade made from a permeable mineral fiber membrane, enhancing passive thermo-light regulation and emphasizing the building’s ephemeral and reversible nature.
This ‘skin’ contributes to the control of solar radiation, promotes natural ventilation and reduces energy consumption by playing an active role in defining the relationship between interior and exterior, regulating light, air and temperature, and building a continuous relationship with the surrounding environment. The load-bearing structure is made entirely of laminated wood, with a dry modular system, generating a dynamic spatial rhythm: a lattice of beams and pillars that reproduces with the wisdom of Japanese technological systems a large Italian coffered ceiling, producing changing shadows throughout the day. The architectural articulation reflects the principles of flexibility and reversibility, while the envelope is designed to mitigate the climatic and light conditions of the Osaka context.
The pavilion is divided into two volumes. The main volume consists of a large hangar that hosts the exhibition experience, culminating on the roof with a large terrace that can be visited, a roof garden inspired by the Italian garden tradition, reinterpreted in a contemporary key as a complex living ecosystem. The organic design of the greenery is reflected in the exhibition landscape and dialogues with the circular ring of the Expo site, creating a counterpoint between panoramic view and experiential immersion. Every construction element – from materials to geometry – has been chosen to minimize environmental impact and promote a sensitive connection between people, architecture and nature. The building does not dominate its setting but integrates harmoniously into Osaka Bay, embodying the relationship between sustainability and beauty, the heart of Italian design culture.
Theme and Exhibition Content
The Italian Pavilion proposes an immersive and multisensory itinerary designed as a journey through contemporary Italian identity, including history, innovation and creativity. Each space is conceived as an autonomous but interconnected narrative scene, capable of activating emotions, reflections and participation. The visitor, guided through a creative journey until becoming an integral part of it, will undoubtedly ‘breathe’ Italy when introduced to the colors of Renaissance paintings, the proportions of urban spaces, and the country’s social culture.
The journey begins with the Ateliers of Italian Creativity, spaces where visitors can explore the intersection of digital craftsmanship, evolved manufacturing, art and scientific research up close. The experience continues inside the Theater, an interactive environment rooted in the Italian culture of intimate theaters, creating a dialogue with elements of Japanese performing arts through digital scenography and live performances. Here, through an immersive and multi-sensory show, visual impressions, sounds, movements and colors will be staged until they blend the observer with the actor, the real with the virtual. This transformative experience challenges perceptions, offering a glimpse into possible future scenarios.
At the heart of the Pavilion lies the ‘Ideal City’, which, in a contemporary reinterpretation of the theme, expands its vision to embrace the diversity of the territory and its relationship with humanity. This immersive area is dedicated to showcasing the uniqueness and richness of Italy’s landscapes, a research and experimental laboratory addressing highly relevant topics such as air quality, infrastructure, health, art, and urban spaces. In this section, symbolic works like the Farnese Atlas and the design of the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Torches guide visitors on a journey through nature, culture and technology.
A particularly powerful moment unfolds in the space dedicated to the Pavilion of the Holy See, where visitors can admire Caravaggio’s ‘The Deposition’ from the Vatican Museums. Set in a deliberately intimate, dimly lit environment, the masterpiece establishes a profound connection with the viewer, inviting reflection on the universal relationship among art, spirituality, and beauty.
The Pavilion also hosts a space dedicated to Italian Territories, where different regions alternate over time and showcase their excellence and traditions through interactive and innovative installations. The experience culminates on the rooftop terrace with the Italian Garden, a contemporary reinterpretation of the Renaissance Garden tradition with a sustainable approach. This space serves as both a place of contemplation and a meeting point, where native Italian and Japanese vegetation intertwine. A sinuous, organic labyrinth offers visitors the opportunity to explore a new balance between humanity and nature, between the natural and the artificial, harmonizing the organic vitality of life with the rational design of humankind.
Sustainability and innovation
The entire Pavilion adheres to strict principles of sustainability and circularity, thanks to its modular wooden structure, the use of low-impact materials, and innovative technologies for energy and water management. Conceived as a circular architectural model, the Pavilion is designed to minimize environmental impact while generating cultural, ecological, and social value. The entire project is based on an integrated approach to sustainability, involving materials, technologies, resource management, and the long-term use of the building.
The design of the Pavilion follows a systemic approach rooted in regenerative sustainability throughout the entire life cycle of the building. From the concept phase, the design considered the temporariness of the work not as a constraint, but as an opportunity to rethink the way of building and assembling. The use of a load-bearing structure made of laminated wood, a renewable resource from certified local supply chains, is accompanied by the use of dry construction systems and modular logic. These choices make it possible to simplify the production and assembly phases, reduce waste, optimize the use of materials and ensure control at every stage of the construction site.
The entire design process is guided by the principles of Design for Disassembly (DfD) and Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA), with the aim of reducing the number of components, facilitating their separation at the end of the cycle and maintaining their value over time. This approach, inspired by the Life Cycle Thinking strategy, helps contain environmental impact and promotes the integration of architecture, circular economy, and local production chains, without sacrificing efficiency, durability and construction quality requirements. A detailed preliminary climate analysis also allowed the project to incorporate natural ventilation systems, passive cooling and dynamic shading systems, which would drastically reduce overall energy requirements.
Post-Expo: Disassembly and Reuse
From the design stage, the Italian Pavilion was conceived as a temporary but enduring building in thought, a cultural, technological, and environmental legacy designed to extend well beyond the six months of the Expo. Entirely built with prefabricated laminated wood modules, the structure is designed to be fully disassembled. This allows for complete or partial reuse in a new context, giving the pavilion a second life as a cultural center, educational hub, or exhibition space, in Italy or abroad.
Every element – from structure and materials, technologies to furnishings – has been designed with traceability, reversibility and flexibility in mind, aiming to minimize waste and maximize the long-term value of public investment. At the same time, all content generated during the Expo – performances, installations, data, artworks, interactions – will be collected and organized into a digital and physical archive, envisioned as a permanent Italian Laboratory: a database of best practices, innovative ideas, outcomes of collaborations between research, companies and institutions.
With this approach, the Pavilion is not an ephemeral icon but a generative platform: a space that continues to produce value, relationships and knowledge even after its physical closure, interpreting at its best the sustainable and regenerative vocation of the whole project. Overall, the Italian Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka aims not only to represent Italy’s rich cultural heritage but also to serve as a living space that fosters exchange, relationships, and innovative ideas for a sustainable and inclusive future.
