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World Exposition © Expo 2025
A projected 28 million visitors to the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Japan, will marvel at dozens of fabric architecture pavilions and shade structures as they learn about cutting-edge technology and imagine a potentially more sustainable future. The event opens April 13 and continues through Oct. 13. This year’s theme is “Designing Future Society of Our Lives.”
Theme weeks include “Necessities of Life: Food, Shelter, Health and Wellbeing,” “The Future of Community and Mobility” and “The Future of Earth and Biodiversity.”
Advanced Textiles Association (ATA) Japan will host its spring meeting there May 16; members and nonmembers are welcome. More information: ata-japan.textiles.org.
ATA Japan members Taiyo Kogyo Co. Ltd. and Yamaguchi New Shelter Industry Inc.’s work will feature throughout the Osaka expo. Taiyo Kogyo will showcase newly developed materials and unique structures among its more than 20 pavilions. Yamaguchi New Shelter also has constructed canopies and shade structures in addition to several pavilions.
The first World Expo was in 1851 in London. The event takes place every five years to exhibit innovation and tackle themes that affect the world. Technological debuts in fabric architecture have included the PVC air-supported dome structure in 1970 at Osaka, notes Eddie Nohmura of Taiyo Kogyo and an ATA Japan board member. The structure was the starting point for buildings such as the Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich., and Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minn., he says. Before then, fabric was not considered a permanent construction material.