"Osaka should know better than to erase all evidence of Expo 2025"

Osaka should reconsider its plan to dismantle all pavilions at the upcoming Expo 2025 given the enduring legacy of its first expo 55 years ago, writes Paul French.

On 14 April, Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai opens to the public on an artificial island in Osaka Bay. From the water, it will look like a mirage among the busy container shipping terminals and skyline of Japan's third-largest city. And like a mirage, this view will start to vanish before the year is out.

The structures are all designed to be dismantled with minimal waste and some pavilions may be rebuilt in their home countries. Organizers have even launched a reuse matching project to pair new end-users with building materials from the event.

This one is on track to make its mark on the roster of world's fairs

I think there's a problem with this plan. Osaka, more than any other host city, should know better than to erase all physical evidence of its effort to bring people together.

World's fairs come around every five years. I suspect many people believe they ceased to exist some time ago. It's difficult for a six-month-long spectacle to compete with digital entertainment. Then there's the matter of sustainability and waste surrounding such a large and ephemeral undertaking.

I toured the Expo 2025 site last fall, and I'd say this one is on track to make its mark on the roster of world's fairs. But then, this isn't Osaka's first rodeo. With Expo 2025, Japan's "fun" city joins the elite of repeat hosts – Paris, London, Brussels, Milan, Barcelona, New York, and Chicago, which have doubled down to enthral visitors with a potent blend of infotainment wrapped in the mantle of cultural exchange that has made world's fairs a popular attraction since the very first exhibition in London in 1851.

Expo 2025 is being billed as host to one of the world's largest wooden structures: Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring. Like a medieval village hunkered behind its ramparts, national pavilions gathered in the centre with other themed attractions scattered on the periphery, it is a vast ring two kilometres in circumference, 675 metres in external diameter and reaching 20 metres tall in places.

This giant jenga is constructed in a traditional Japanese form of architectural joinery called nuki, where horizontal beams punch through vertical posts and do not use nails for support, found in historic shrines and temples. If clear-cutting swathes of Japanese forest come to mind when confronted by this behemoth, it is comforting to learn most of the cedar and cypress wood was harvested in the proximity of the Fukushima nuclear accident and passed the test for radioactivity.

Expos can be life-changing experiences, especially for the young

In a city bereft of plentiful green spaces, the brilliance of this structure is what awaits up top. Verdant meadows and grassy slopes beckon on this high line. I can only imagine the thrill of watching the panoply of pursuits from this perch as you stroll its entire circle, which extends out over the water. A bold, signature move such as this is what world's fairs should offer. And Osaka will not disappoint.

Expos can be life-changing experiences, especially for the young. I recall being dazzled by Montreal's Expo 67 as a boy and, later in life, was not at all surprised to learn more than a few people I know decided to pursue architecture because of that exposure.

Remnants of past fairs remain in varying states of repair in cities, like so much urban archaeology. There's Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome in Montreal and New York's Unisphere.

And let's not forget the Eiffel Tower, erected for the Paris World's Fair of 1889, or the space-age Atomium at Brussels in 1958. These icons matter, whether they serve any present purpose or remain the leading tourist attractions of their city.

The site of the first Osaka expo sits far from the port. It was the first world's fair held in Asia, one that shattered attendance records with 64 million visitors that held until Shanghai 2010.

Expo 70 Commemorative Park today vividly recalls its era – a great deal of what this meant to the Japanese has been lovingly preserved. And the vast grounds, which before the fair were home to rice paddies and bamboo groves, have been mostly re-naturalized with playing fields, ponds, and a wide variety of gardens that bloom throughout the year.

The endurance of Expo 70 makes a strong case for preserving and celebrating our collective past

Amidst the splendour of this carefully cultivated landscape, the Tower of the Sun, the weird and wonderful 70-metre-tall symbol of Osaka's first expo, looms large with its multiple faces and outstretched arms (pictured top). Locals told me some people love it while others say it is outdated and silly. Such is the way of art, but it is obvious this sculpture continues to affect all who see it.

The director of global PR for this year's expo, Sachiko Yoshimura, helped place the significance of Expo 70 in context for me. She said it changed the mindset of the Japanese and opened the world to them in ways never before seen.

"People didn't travel as much then so expo was an opportunity to meet foreigners for the first time," she said. "And this changed the course of peoples' lives, seeing the opportunity to work for foreign companies or in diplomacy. Expo 70 had a huge impact for the Japanese people."

Long-gone pavilions are captured in videos and bold graphics in the former Steel Pavilion, now the permanent Expo 70 Pavilion. The UK displayed a model of the Concorde and the US pavilion featured a two-kilogram moon rock brought back to earth just months before Expo 70 opened.

There were early examples of wireless telephones and electric bikes and cars that anticipated today's trends. This sense of optimism about a brave new world is worth preserving for future generations to marvel at.

The endurance of Expo 70 makes a strong case for preserving and celebrating our collective past. On Dream Pond, paddle boats can be rented to drift by Isamu Noguchi's Nine Floating Fountains, a stunning feature of Expo 70 where cascading water from 10-metre-high boxes gave the impression of flight.

How do you live up to this expo's slogan, Designing Future Society for Our Lives, when everything will disappear in October?

And the park has more to offer to connect us with a sense of place. The Japanese Garden has continued to grow since in landscape styles from different eras. The most recent addition to the area, from 2015, is EXPOCITY, a mega-mall of international brands, an aquarium, and Japan's tallest Ferris wheel.

And what of Expo 2025, its pavilions and Grand Ring? What legacy will they offer? How do you live up to this expo's slogan, Designing Future Society for Our Lives, when everything will disappear in October?

Yoshimura argued sustainability was key. "We have come a long way in 55 years in learning how to re-use and it's a new generation now and expo is not just about the buildings," she said. As for making lasting connections, she is hopeful the significant outreach programs connecting schools, universities and start-ups at this international forum will produce economic benefits and open new paths for the Japanese.

It's worth remembering for all the talk of international confluence at world's fairs, the target audiences are largely local. This year's anticipated attendance of 28.2 million is expected to be around 90 per cent Japanese. Lucky them.

There is growing local support to retain the Grand Ring and we will see what impact that has when Expo 2025 steps onto the global stage. But for now, Yoshimura said the land will go back to as it was before.

"We have to give the land back to Osaka city, we have to return the land clean with nothing on it, basically."

It is my hope this tale of two expos has a different ending.

Paul French is a Toronto-based writer in travel, architecture and urban design. He works in media relations for Hariri Pontarini Architects.

The photo is by Paul French. 

Dezeen In Depth
If you enjoy reading Dezeen's interviews, opinions and features, subscribe to Dezeen In Depth. Sent on the last Friday of each month, this newsletter provides a single place to read about the design and architecture stories behind the headlines.

The post "Osaka should know better than to erase all evidence of Expo 2025" appeared first on Dezeen.