A commemorative wooden structure, “Great Circle” at Expo 2025 in Osaka, celebrates Japan’s architectural heritage and embodies unity, according to its designer, despite concerns over its high costs.
The two-kilometre radius of architect Sou Fujimoto’s notable building will encompass numerous national stands at the six-month-long expostion starting in April.
Every five years, the World Expo, taking place in various cities around the world, offers a platform for participating nations to showcase their advancements in technology and culture.
Planners have encountered difficulty in generating excitement for the 2025 event, facing sluggish ticket sales and public anxiety stemming from a rapidly escalating construction budget.
Fumihiko Maki, one of Japan’s leading architects, explained to AFP that the Grand Ring’s significance goes beyond its price of 34.4 billion yen ($220 million).
The event is a “really beautiful, precious opportunity where numerous diverse cultures and nations converge in the same location, bringing about unity and diversity”, she stated beneath the majestic latticed beams of the Ring.
The hosting of such events enables global exchange to take place, even amid conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, and other regions, as evidenced by the notion that “the simplest shape is a circle.”
The Grand Ring was built using traditional methods, specifically techniques for joining wooden pillars reminiscent of the elevated platform at Kiyomizu Temple in nearby Kyoto.
The Expo is also a “wonderful opportunity” to showcase that Japan has a rich and extensive heritage of wooden architecture.
Skywalk
Japanese cedars and hinoki woods were reinforced with metal to make them earthquake-resistant, while stronger European red cedars were similarly reinforced.
Columns made of wood support a roof with a gentle slope, reaching its highest point at approximately twenty metres, providing shelter for visitors as they walk below at ground level.
The rooftop has a “skywalk” that provides a panorama of the surrounding surroundings.
Even so, a total of only 7.4 million tickets had been purchased by December, a figure that fell substantially short of the organisers’ projected target.
The construction budget has ballooned 27 percent from initial estimates in 2020, now projected at 235 billion yen, equivalent to approximately $1.5 billion, primarily due to rising inflation and labour shortages.
Fujimoto has claimed that the budget expansion was largely caused by a surge in prices attributed to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, “which no one could have anticipated”.
“The Ring was conceived with innovation to squeeze out every possible impact from every available resource, achieving multiple outcomes on a relatively tight budget,” he shared on social media platform X.
Fujimoto indicated that utilising wood for the Grand Ring was an eco-friendly decision, pointing out the “attractive cycle” through which trees take in carbon dioxide.
However, the true sustainability of the Ring has been subject to scrutiny.
According to a report by Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper in December, it has been revealed that only 12.5 percent of the Expo’s temporary structures will be repurposed – a significant reduction from the initial estimate of 25 percent reuse.
‘Beyond your imagination’
Fujimoto’s notable projects include “L’Arbre Blanc”, a multifunctional skyscraper located in Montpellier, France, and a design for the 2013 Serpentine Pavilion in London, characterized by a slender white lattice structure.
In his childhood in northern Hokkaido, where he often played in the forest, Fujimoto gained an awareness of the significant connection between “the wonderful relationship between nature, architecture and people”.
He took a great interest in crafting things, partly due to his medical doctor father who used to paint and create sculptures in his spare time.
He became interested in architecture at the age of 14 after reading a lone book on that subject at his home about Spain’s notable architect Antoni Gaudí.
“I couldn’t possibly imagine myself being that unconventional at the time,” he said with a chuckle, referring to Gaudi.
The accomplished adolescence Fujimoto, whose interest was sparked by the renowned physicist Albert Einstein, initially pursued a course of study in physics at the esteemed University of Tokyo.
He “couldn’t understand anything” and therefore switched to architecture, establishing his own firm in 2000, six years after completing his studies.
Fujimoto revealed that the genesis of his passion for architecture is still unknown to him, but when a design like the Grand Ring materializes, it is “beyond one’s wildest imagination”.
“And that is amazing.”
