Osaka, Japan
Aiming to illustrate how design can connect human and non-human worlds, Coldefy and CRA- Carlo Ratti Associati along with Yasui Sekkei and Coloco create the Theatrum Naturae, the French Pavilion for the EXPO 2025 Osaka that will feature France’s rich landscape as part of a looping narrative path, suggesting new entanglements between humans and other forms of life in our cities.
The design adopts a circular architectural approach and by blending prefabricated pieces with natural elements, it reiterates a “virtuous loop of reuse and recycling that extends far beyond the fleeting timeframe of the World Expo.”
“The French Pavilion invites visitors to enter the theater of life. Both actors and spectators in this production, visitors traverse a path through the Pavilion that stages the essential symbiosis between humanity and its environment, ultimately urging them to become aware of the vital necessity of our connection to nature,” states Thomas Coldefy, founding partner of Coldefy.
France’s Pavilion can be explored from side to side, but also from the ground up to the roof: here, nature is experienced both as landscape and as shelter.
There is a lush garden on the roof roof supporting its energetic regulation, while showcasing the diversity of French nature.
The journey culminates on the Pavilion’s rooftop, featuring a landscaped garden crowning the building, resembling a slice of nature serving as a protective barrier above the pavilion—a space of common ground welcoming all living species.
As visitors walk through the garden, they take a journey through the different environs of France, from the mountains to the coast.
It represents the climax of the narrative, akin to the conclusion of a play that reveals the vital realization of our connection to nature.
The architects have imagined a fluid place that combines natural and artificial, as well as human and plant life under the principle of co-living with nature.
A single and interdependent community shares the same rights and a common ground.
“As we attempt to address the changing role of expos today in the context of the climate crisis, we must seek new ways to imagine the relationship between the natural and artificial,” says Carlo Ratti.
“By combining different forms of intelligence, whether organic or technological, we can redefine connections between people and nature.”
Project: French Pavilion – World Expo Osaka 2025
Architects: Coldefy and CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati
Design Team: Thomas Coldefy, Isabel Van Haute, Zoltan Neville, Martin Mercier, Marianna Guarino, Léo Akahori, Leonardo Ronchi, Shuai Wang, Carlo Ratti, Andrea Cassi, Ina Sefgjini, Gizem Veral, Jelena Kro, Gabriele Sacchi, Alba Leon Alvarez, Marie Petrault, and Antoine Picon
Local Architects: Yasui Sekkei
Structural engineers: Bollinger + Grohmann
Landscape Architects: Coloco
Environmental Engineers: Ramboll
Project Owner: Cofrex
Renderings: Courtesy of the Architects
