Theatrum Naturae. French Pavilion, World Expo Osaka 2025 (JP) by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti
11/01/2024.
[Osaka] Japan
metalocus, JORGE MARTINEZ
metalocus, JORGE MARTINEZ
Architecture studios Coldefy and CRA have presented the pavilion for France's national project at the Osaka 2025 Universal Exhibition on Yumeshimanaka, an artificial island in Osaka Bay, Japan. The exhibition is intended to run from April 13, 2025 to October 13 of the same year.
The exhibition is dedicated to three main mottos, Save Lives, Inspire Lives, Connect Lives. Therefore, the architects have decided to conceive the building, dedicated to showcasing French innovations, as a "Theatrum Naturae", presenting the rich landscape of France as part of a looping narrative tour, suggesting new unions between humans and others. ways of life in our cities.
The exhibition is dedicated to three main mottos, Save Lives, Inspire Lives, Connect Lives. Therefore, the architects have decided to conceive the building, dedicated to showcasing French innovations, as a "Theatrum Naturae", presenting the rich landscape of France as part of a looping narrative tour, suggesting new unions between humans and others. ways of life in our cities.
Display. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
Display. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
Display. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
Display. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
Display. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
Display. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
Display. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
Display. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
Display. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
Display. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
Axonometry. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
Schemes. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
Schemes. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
"Theatrum Naturae" designed by the architecture studios Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti will be the French Pavilion at the Osaka 2025 Universal Exhibition (JP). The pavilion is developed to show France's contribution to culture and the natural environment in the 21st century.
The architecture of the French Pavilion illustrates how the project bridges the gap between human and non-human life across the planet, welcoming them into today's natural and artificial habitats. It brings to the fore the multiple ecosystems of France, making them an integral part of the building and the visitor journey. To do this, the architects execute four different strategies.
Display. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
1.- Inhabited garden
The pavilion can be explored from side to side, but also from floor to roof: here nature is experienced both as a landscape and as a refuge. A large landscaped roof protects the pavilion and supports its energy regulation, while showcasing the diversity of French nature. It is presented as a culminating space of the architectural promenade that is formed inside the pavilion.
The rooftop tour serves as a protective barrier over the pavilion, while for the visitor it serves as an exhibition space for the different environments that are generated in France.
2.- Natural Theater
The pavilion celebrates French savoir faire, placing it in the foreground. Honoring the experimental history of French staging, the pavilion is revealed with a system of curtains on the facades, which rise to offer a continuous spectacle to spectators and visitors.
Display. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
3.- A living pavilion
The pavilion is a fluid place that combines natural and artificial life, as well as human and plant life under the principle of coexistence with nature. A unique and interdependent community shares equal rights and common ground.
4.-Life after the Expo
The pavilion is conceived as a machine assembled from prefabricated components and natural elements; As such, it is part of a broader life cycle that goes beyond the Expo event. Vegetation will continue to grow in the host country, located in the appropriate climate zones.
Display. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
A pavilion that celebrates the human senses
A single path that celebrates the human senses takes visitors through the Pavilion, creating an experience divided into what could be considered three acts: Ascent, Discovery of Nature and Return to Earth. Rising from ground level in a “stage arch,” the experience begins by taking a sensual staircase that winds to form an observation balcony before crossing a curtain threshold to create an infinite loop. This loop allows a complete exploration of the building's interior space, encompassing its entire volume, before opening onto the green terrace.
Sustainable and circular project
Projected within a circular architectural approach, the pavilion is not just a red thread that unites the many aspects of French human and more-than-human life. It also seamlessly combines prefabricated and natural elements, integrating its existence into a virtuous circle of reuse and recycling that extends far beyond the fleeting time period of the World's Fair.
«The France Pavilion invites visitors to enter the theater of life. Both actors and spectators of this production, visitors follow 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 with nature.
The architecture of the French Pavilion illustrates how the project bridges the gap between human and non-human life across the planet, welcoming them into today's natural and artificial habitats. It brings to the fore the multiple ecosystems of France, making them an integral part of the building and the visitor journey. To do this, the architects execute four different strategies.
Display. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
1.- Inhabited garden
The pavilion can be explored from side to side, but also from floor to roof: here nature is experienced both as a landscape and as a refuge. A large landscaped roof protects the pavilion and supports its energy regulation, while showcasing the diversity of French nature. It is presented as a culminating space of the architectural promenade that is formed inside the pavilion.
The rooftop tour serves as a protective barrier over the pavilion, while for the visitor it serves as an exhibition space for the different environments that are generated in France.
2.- Natural Theater
The pavilion celebrates French savoir faire, placing it in the foreground. Honoring the experimental history of French staging, the pavilion is revealed with a system of curtains on the facades, which rise to offer a continuous spectacle to spectators and visitors.
Display. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
3.- A living pavilion
The pavilion is a fluid place that combines natural and artificial life, as well as human and plant life under the principle of coexistence with nature. A unique and interdependent community shares equal rights and common ground.
4.-Life after the Expo
The pavilion is conceived as a machine assembled from prefabricated components and natural elements; As such, it is part of a broader life cycle that goes beyond the Expo event. Vegetation will continue to grow in the host country, located in the appropriate climate zones.
Display. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
A pavilion that celebrates the human senses
A single path that celebrates the human senses takes visitors through the Pavilion, creating an experience divided into what could be considered three acts: Ascent, Discovery of Nature and Return to Earth. Rising from ground level in a “stage arch,” the experience begins by taking a sensual staircase that winds to form an observation balcony before crossing a curtain threshold to create an infinite loop. This loop allows a complete exploration of the building's interior space, encompassing its entire volume, before opening onto the green terrace.
Sustainable and circular project
Projected within a circular architectural approach, the pavilion is not just a red thread that unites the many aspects of French human and more-than-human life. It also seamlessly combines prefabricated and natural elements, integrating its existence into a virtuous circle of reuse and recycling that extends far beyond the fleeting time period of the World's Fair.
Display. Theatrum Naturae by Coldefy and Carlo Ratti Architetti.
«The France Pavilion invites visitors to enter the theater of life. Both actors and spectators of this production, visitors follow 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 with nature.
Thomas Coldefy.
«As we seek to address the changing role of exhibitions today in the context of the climate crisis, we must look for new ways to imagine the relationship between the natural and the artificial, combining different forms of intelligence, whether organic or technological, to redefine the connections between people and nature.
Carlos Ratti.
«A Universal Exhibition is a magical moment of exchange and passion. This is even more true when it takes place in Osaka, where Japan invites us to imagine the life of tomorrow together. Faced with a world that is looking for its way, France responds with its values and sensitivity, in an optimistic and committed way. It offers 28 million visitors an exceptional experience, an immersive French Pavilion, a building that embodies an ode to Love.
Jacques Maire, President of COFREX.
More information
Architects
Project team
Thomas Coldefy, Isabel Van Haute, Zoltan Neville, Martin Mercier, Marianna Guarino, Léo Akahori, Leonardo Ronchi, Shuai Wang.
Carlo Ratti, Andrea Cassi (partner in charge), Ina Sefgjini, Gizem Veral, Jelena Kro, Gabriele Sacchi, Alba Leon Alvarez, Marie Petrault, Antoine Picon.
Carlo Ratti, Andrea Cassi (partner in charge), Ina Sefgjini, Gizem Veral, Jelena Kro, Gabriele Sacchi, Alba Leon Alvarez, Marie Petrault, Antoine Picon.
Collaborators
Partners.- Yasui Sekkei (local architects & engineers)
Competition partners.- Bollinger + Grohmann (Structural engineers), Coloco (Landscape architects), Ramboll (Environmental engineers), de_form (Graphics/signage).
Competition partners.- Bollinger + Grohmann (Structural engineers), Coloco (Landscape architects), Ramboll (Environmental engineers), de_form (Graphics/signage).
Client
Cofrex.
Contractor
Rimond.
Area
3 600 sqm Net Area.
Dates
Winning competition.- 2023.
Delivery.- 2025.
Delivery.- 2025.
Location
Osaka, Japan,
Budget
22M €.
Thomas Coldefy, Isabel Van Haute. Coldefy
Coldefy is an architecture studio founded by Thomas Coldefy and Isabel Van Haute in 2006, with offices in Lille, Paris, Shanghai and Hong Kong. The studio has an international team with completed and ongoing projects, public and private at all scales, around the world.
Thomas and Isabel met at SCAU in Paris after working for, among others, Kohn Pedersen Fox and Richard Meier and Partners on large-scale complex projects. When designing, they pay special attention to the place, the urban culture related to density and diversity, as well as a conceptualization process where the various factors of the project come together continuously.
After founding the studio, they won the competition for the Hong Kong Institute of Design in 2006 against 162 teams. The project completed since 2009 has been the subject of numerous international publications, was nominated for the AFEX Grand Prize in 2012 and exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
In France, Coldefy continues to develop a series of projects, especially in the heart of the Lille metropolitan area, where they have already completed multiple operations: multi-family housing and offices at the Porte de Valenciennes Arboretum in Euralille, the Lucie Aubrac Secondary School. The school in Tourcoing, the first low-energy school in the region, or Rigot Stalars, a historic mixed-use rehabilitation and extension, creating a new neighborhood in Dunkirk.
In 2016, the office carried out two major construction projects in the Lille metropolitan area: the Aquatic Center in Douai and the Lycée Hôtelier de Lille. Having completed the first phase of the new OVH campus, the team worked on the project for a complex bringing together leisure, cultural and retail spaces in Orgeval, as well as the transformation of an eclectic historic neighborhood in Fuzhou, China. In addition, there are multiple commissions and competitions, including a graphic arts school in Montpellier, the planning of a new development area in the Paris region, the second phase of Rigot Stalars, a restaurant and high-end residential units in the historic Vieux Lille, the modernization of a Villa in Shanghai, etc.
Awards
Thomas and Isabel met at SCAU in Paris after working for, among others, Kohn Pedersen Fox and Richard Meier and Partners on large-scale complex projects. When designing, they pay special attention to the place, the urban culture related to density and diversity, as well as a conceptualization process where the various factors of the project come together continuously.
After founding the studio, they won the competition for the Hong Kong Institute of Design in 2006 against 162 teams. The project completed since 2009 has been the subject of numerous international publications, was nominated for the AFEX Grand Prize in 2012 and exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
In France, Coldefy continues to develop a series of projects, especially in the heart of the Lille metropolitan area, where they have already completed multiple operations: multi-family housing and offices at the Porte de Valenciennes Arboretum in Euralille, the Lucie Aubrac Secondary School. The school in Tourcoing, the first low-energy school in the region, or Rigot Stalars, a historic mixed-use rehabilitation and extension, creating a new neighborhood in Dunkirk.
In 2016, the office carried out two major construction projects in the Lille metropolitan area: the Aquatic Center in Douai and the Lycée Hôtelier de Lille. Having completed the first phase of the new OVH campus, the team worked on the project for a complex bringing together leisure, cultural and retail spaces in Orgeval, as well as the transformation of an eclectic historic neighborhood in Fuzhou, China. In addition, there are multiple commissions and competitions, including a graphic arts school in Montpellier, the planning of a new development area in the Paris region, the second phase of Rigot Stalars, a restaurant and high-end residential units in the historic Vieux Lille, the modernization of a Villa in Shanghai, etc.
Awards
5 finalists for the Louvre Lens international competition, together with Steven Holl.
International conference center in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 2009.
40 Under 40 Award in 2010, which recognizes the most talented young architects in the world.
WAF World Architecture Forum (nomination), 2011.
Pyramides d`Or, 2011.
IDA Award in 2012.
Awarded the silver prize for the IDA 2012 awards.
Public Service Hall in Kobuleti, Georgia in 2012.
Perspective “40 under 4”, 2014.
Asia «40 under 4», 2014.
Europe «40 under 4», 2014.
IDA-International Design Awards, 2016.
European Architecture Prize, 2021.
International Architecture Prize, 2021.
Order of Arts and Letters, Thomas Coldefy, 2022.
International conference center in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 2009.
40 Under 40 Award in 2010, which recognizes the most talented young architects in the world.
WAF World Architecture Forum (nomination), 2011.
Pyramides d`Or, 2011.
IDA Award in 2012.
Awarded the silver prize for the IDA 2012 awards.
Public Service Hall in Kobuleti, Georgia in 2012.
Perspective “40 under 4”, 2014.
Asia «40 under 4», 2014.
Europe «40 under 4», 2014.
IDA-International Design Awards, 2016.
European Architecture Prize, 2021.
International Architecture Prize, 2021.
Order of Arts and Letters, Thomas Coldefy, 2022.
Carlo Ratti Associati
Carlo Ratti Associati is an international design and innovation office based in Torino, Italy, with branches in New York and London. Drawing on Carlo Ratti’s research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Senseable City Lab, the office is currently involved in many projects across the globe, embracing every scale of intervention – from furniture to urban planning. The work of the practice merges design with cutting-edge digital technologies, so as to contribute to the creation of an architecture “that senses and responds”.
Noteworthy achievements at the urban and architectural scale include the masterplan for a creative hub in the City of Guadalajara, the renovation of the Agnelli Foundation HQ in Torino, the Future Food District at Expo Milano 2015, and the Digital Water Pavilion at Expo Zaragoza 2008. Product design projects range from experimental furniture for Cassina to light installations for Artemide, to responsive seating systems with Vitra.
In all these circumstances, the studio investigated the ways in which new technologies, including digital sensors and portable devices, are changing both the built environment and everyday life. The works of the practice have been featured in publications worldwide, including The New York Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, BBC, Wired, Boston Globe, Der Spiegel, Corriere della Sera, Domus. The projects of the studio have been exhibited in cultural venues such as the Venice Biennale, New York’s MoMA, Istanbul Design Biennial, and many others.
Carlo Ratti Associati is the only design firm whose works have been featured twice in TIME Magazine’s “Best Inventions of the Year” list – respectively with the Digital Water Pavilion in 2007, and the Copenhagen Wheel in 2014. In the last years, the office has been involved in the launch of Makr Shakr, a startup producing the world’s first robotic bar system.
Noteworthy achievements at the urban and architectural scale include the masterplan for a creative hub in the City of Guadalajara, the renovation of the Agnelli Foundation HQ in Torino, the Future Food District at Expo Milano 2015, and the Digital Water Pavilion at Expo Zaragoza 2008. Product design projects range from experimental furniture for Cassina to light installations for Artemide, to responsive seating systems with Vitra.
In all these circumstances, the studio investigated the ways in which new technologies, including digital sensors and portable devices, are changing both the built environment and everyday life. The works of the practice have been featured in publications worldwide, including The New York Times, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, BBC, Wired, Boston Globe, Der Spiegel, Corriere della Sera, Domus. The projects of the studio have been exhibited in cultural venues such as the Venice Biennale, New York’s MoMA, Istanbul Design Biennial, and many others.
Carlo Ratti Associati is the only design firm whose works have been featured twice in TIME Magazine’s “Best Inventions of the Year” list – respectively with the Digital Water Pavilion in 2007, and the Copenhagen Wheel in 2014. In the last years, the office has been involved in the launch of Makr Shakr, a startup producing the world’s first robotic bar system.
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