Japan formally Bid on 24 April 2017, on its application to host the World Expo 2025 in Osaka in the Kansai region located on Yume Shima artificial island. Indeed, the theme is “Designing Future Society for Our Lives” but broken down into three specific sub-themes: “Saving Lives”, “Empowering Lives”, and “Connecting Lives”. Since 1873 when it participated in the Vienna World’s Fair, the Principality of Monaco has been participating in universal expositions. In 1958, it joined the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE). After this date, the Principality participated in World Expos, among them, Osaka in 1970. Monaco pavilions have won numerous awards and have been attended by over 5% of the aggregate numbers attending.
Concept / TAKE CARE OF WONDER
This time Monaco Pavilion of Expo 2025 Osaka proffers a mix of Mediterranean and Japanese landscapes, thus creating this unique dialogue through architecture and landscape design. This pavilion, from a harmonious blend of Mediterranean and Japanese garden elements around the concept, carries Monaco’s commitment to global initiatives and stewardship of the environment. Upon reflection of the theme of the Expo-“Take Care of Wonder,” the pavilion offers its visitors an opportunity to be treated to a wonderful place filled with peaceful surroundings wherein one will experience the power of nature and culture.
The Detailing
As a meeting between a Japanese garden and a true Mediterranean counterpart, the Monaco Pavilion’s goal is to create awareness about the environmental end among visitors. Issues dealt with by the Prince Albert II Foundation, to take care of Wonders is to realise that by taking care of nature, where we are also taking care of ourselves, and using that little energy to care for this fragile wonder, that is the planet we’re living on, we are helping to keep the human species alive.
Architecture by Monegasque architects Nicolas Fedoroff and Jerome Hein and landscape architect Julien Rossignol offers a soothing, immersive garden by reinterpreting traditional Japanese motifs with Mediterranean and Provençal influences. A structure made out of reflecting metal blurs the lines between the constructed elements and the surroundings, unlocking natural light and vegetation, and making for a strong visual transformation in the process.
pavilion adopts an understated architectural approach that foregrounds lush, curated greenery. At its entrance, an ancient stone pathway under a prominent olive tree – a symbol of the Mediterranean region – leads visitors into a garden with Mediterranean and Japanese plantings, arranged in micro-landscapes.
Unique architectural elements like the very coloured façade forms and the Belvedere’s ceiling, taken in subtle differentiation from the rose petal, form a rhythmic identifiable character for the pavilion. Colour and form are dancing in an even more delicate dance to offer continuity and identity for the structure and thus an iconic feature of the Expo’s landscape.
Designed as a natural extension of the Expo forecourt, the proposal for the Monaco Pavilion makes an intersection of two cultures while leaving room for transition where Mediterranean traditions and Japanese serenity meet. As a vehicle to plunge oneself into the experience of another culture, it would encourage tour seekers to venture into a very well-crafted condition in which the vivacity of both regions resonated in unison.
Citation:
- Monaco Pavilion (2024) Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan Official Website. Available at: https://www.expo2025.or.jp/en/official-participant/monaco/ (Accessed: 11 November 2024).
- Pavillon Monaco – site officiel (2024) Pavillon Monaco – Site officiel. Available at: https://pavillonmonaco.com/ (Accessed: 11 November 2024).
