Nikken Sekkei   Japan   Each panel is really a sandwich composed of two flat surfaces of four layers each, held up by an inner metal substructure onto which they are simply screwed to facilitate future dismantling and reuse...

Atelier Brückner   Japan   From the roof’s intricate structure to the signage, the building is based on the geometrical patterns of a technique of scratching plaster – ganch carving – used in Central Asia to decorate palaces and temples...

Kengo Kuma   Japan   A work of AMO, the exhibition design offers a journey through twelve locations along the Qatari coast, around a cinema lined with curtains that are an abstract recreation of the experience of taking shelter in a tent...

Lina Ghotmeh   Japan   Like the hull of a dhow – a type of boat of Arabian origin – the system of timber frames encloses a hold where a central atrium organizes the visitor and service areas, separated by semi-transparent textiles...

interplay   Japan   The snail-like geometry of the design allows a progression in the visitor’s experience of the interior, where a fluid public space culminates in an introspective concert hall located at the heart of the pavilion...

Foster + Partners   Japan   The cluttered mesh of streets characteristic of Arabian cities has been reproduced by means of a computer model in order to optimize bioclimatic protection...

Apropos Architects   Japan   While the central space for events is lit by a round skylight overhead, integrated into the passable roof, the uninterrupted gallery provides large surfaces for the display of Bohemian glass art...

AMDL   Japan   The timber used in the structure of portal frames came from cypress forests in the vicinity, treated with a kind of tar that mixes persimmon pulp with pine charcoal to protect the material and give it a distinctive grayish tone...

Manuel Herz   Japan   In front of an auxiliary block clad in wood is a cluster of globes formed by two-layered thermoplastic pillows, which are inflated to ensure normal pressure inside and avoid the need for airlocks...

RAU Architects   Japan   The dome-like hall is enclosed with a skin of undulating metal louvers, which together cover exactly 425 meters, in commemoration of the 425 years of trade relations between the Netherlands and Japan...

Coldefy Carlo Ratti   Japan   Like a grand opéra, the exhibition is divided into acts: the ceremonious entrance is followed by a sequence of thematic spaces that look over the ground floor, to which one returns after an interlude in the rear garden...

Extudio ENORME Studio Smart and Green Design   Japan   From the porticoed structure of red cedarwood to the colored ceramic pieces of the facade and interior finishes, all the materials are integrated into a circular system, collapsible and reusable. Like a dive into deep waters, a visitor ramp clad in d

Selgascano FRPO   Japan   The base is designed with prefabricated modules which transport the rest of the material, and which are assembled with three cranes that become part of the pavilion. A large fabric is stretched out over the more than thirty inflatable spheres that fo

Francisco Mangado MAM Architecture   Japan   To simplify and lighten the construction of the pavilion, its design takes as reference the apparent formal simplicity of old wooden ships, while the layout of the interior spaces is inspired by the constellation of Aquarius...

b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos External Reference   Japan   The proposal stands out for its organic forms and its contact with the natural environment, establishing at the same time a connection with the sea world. The project includes several aquatic elements built using sustainable materials...

Icaria Atelier Fernando Suárez Corchete Javier Terrados   Japan   The geometry which configures the spaces is directly related to the evocation of the aquatic world: the layout of undulating surfaces can suggest water landscapes for some or wandering among boat hulls for others...

ENORME Studio Smart and Green Design Extudio   Japan   Besides an easterly route from the Philippines to Acapulco, the Augustinian friar Andrés de Urdaneta discovered a north-flowing current towards the Japan Sea. Both phenomena helped Spain create an enriching commercial and cultural channel in the Paci

Tadao Ando   Japan   After a long and fruitful career, Tadao Ando decided that it was time for him to make an altruistic contribution to Osaka, the city where he was raised and developed as an architect. Ando wanted to pay tribute to the children of Osaka, the next gener

Tadao Ando   Japan   This is a memorial hall for writer Ryotaro Shiba, a figure representative of postwar Japan. The curved pavilion is on a site adjacent to the garden of the writer’s own residence, located in a quiet residential area on the outskirts of Osaka. The buil

Kazuyo Sejima   Japan   Atop a hill in the Osaka University of Arts campus, this construction seeks to meld with the topography and natural environment besides harnessing views of the landscape and city. Hence Kazuyo Sejima – founder, with Ryue Nishizawa, of the firm SANAA

Peter Marino Jun Aoki & Associates   Japan   Inspiration for the curving glass facade of the Louis Vuitton store in Osaka, designed by Jun Aoki & Associates and Peter Marino, came from the sails of old Japanese merchant vessels, in reference to the history of a city defined by the importanc

Tato architects   Japan   The miyamoto house, located in the city of Osaka, is the result of addressing a highly radical assignment: to give shelter to a family of three without resorting to the usual mechanisms of the conventional house, such as private bedrooms, wall partit

Kengo Kuma   Japan   The passion of the Japanese for western fashion has contributed to the proliferation in big cities of flagship stores of luxury brands, often designed by signature firms. The headquarters of Hermès by Renzo Piano, of Prada by Herzog & de Meuron,

Visitable until 13 October is the World Expo of Osaka, the Japanese city’s second. If in 1970 the future envisioned was one of steel and concrete, this time the fair is a sampling of sustainable construction that will leave no built legacy: the premi

Cut off from the world for three centuries, the Japan of the Edo period had to compensate for its prohibition of trade through ingenuity, and the scarcity of wood, cotton, and other goods gave rise to a solid culture of recycling that precluded any f

Néstor Montenegro   Rocío Pina   Carmelo Rodríguez   Fernando Muñoz   The Island and the Ring Inaugurated last 13 April, the World Expo of 2025 is being held on the artificial island of Yumeshima, ‘Island of Dreams,’ a tract reclaimed from the sea on Osaka Bay that until recently was an infrastructural void, one which

The Universal Exposition of 2025 has opened in Osaka, to run through 13 October. This is Osaka’s second hosting of the event, after Expo ’70, and the theme this time is ‘Designing Future Society for Our Lives.’ A work of Sou Fujimoto, a huge wooden s

Alejandro Bernabeu   Las estructuras textiles son uno de los sistemas estructurales más antiguos y están consideradas como el quinto material constructivo después de la madera, la piedra, el vidrio y el metal. Sin embargo, la aparición de nuevos materiales y el desarroll

Adela García-Herrera   What kind of contribution can contemporary architecture make to garden design? Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, along with the recently deceased Alvin Boyarsky, were responsible for selecting and coordinating the construction of small pavilions for

London  1991  
AA Publications - Architectural Association Publications   - 167 Pages