Coldefy & Carlo Ratti Associati create design to celebrate French landscapes

Work is progressing on the French Pavilion for the Osaka 2025 World Expo on Yumeshima Island, designed by Tenderstream member Coldefy and Italian architecture and innovation practice Carlo Ratti Associati (CRA). The steel structure and structural walls have now been installed, with vegetation planted on the roof. When complete, the pavilion will illustrate how design can bridge the gap between human and non-human worlds on our planet, welcoming nature into our habitats. 

The pavilion fits the overarching theme of the 2025 Expo, ‘Empowering Life’. Designed within a circular architectural approach, the pavilion links many aspects of French life while integrating prefabricated and natural elements in virtuous loop of reuse and recycling. Conceived as a ‘theatre of nature’, the design features a narrative path that evokes various aspects of France’s rich landscape. Visitors will ascend a staircase that winds to form an observation balcony, before crossing a curtain threshold and stepping onto the path that encompasses the building’s interior. The journey culminates on the rooftop, which features a landscaped garden that crowns the overall structure. As visitors walk through the garden, they will pass through areas symbolising different French regions, from the mountains to the coast. 

Thomas Coldefy, Coldefy founding partner, states: “The French Pavilion invites visitors to enter the theatre of life. Both actors and spectators in this production, visitors traverse a path through the Pavilion that stages the essential symbiosis between humanity's technological and natural environments, ultimately urging them to become aware of the vital necessity of our connection to nature."

Lucy Nordberg
Tenderstream Head of Research

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