Since opening its doors in April 2025, Expo Osaka has welcomed millions of visitors from around the globe, establishing itself as a remarkable showcase of innovation, architecture, and cutting-edge design. Among the exposition's most notable features is the Grand Ring, designed by renowned Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, which stands as the world's largest timber architectural structure. Operating under the central theme "Designing Future Society for Our Lives," along with three supporting pillars - "Saving Lives," "Empowering Lives," and "Connecting Lives" - more than 150 countries have utilized their individual pavilions to address critical topics in contemporary architecture, including circular construction methods, cultural memory preservation, and technological innovation aimed at creating a sustainable built environment for future generations.
Each national pavilion at the Expo is strategically positioned on designated plots that relate to Fujimoto's impressive wooden ring structure. Among these is the Spanish Pavilion, a project that emerged from an intensive collaborative effort between three Madrid-based architectural studios. After successfully winning the public competition organized by Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), the team comprising EXTUDIO, ENORME Studio, and Smart and Green Design was selected to design and construct "La Corriente de Kuroshio" (The Kuroshio Current). This remarkable pavilion serves as a tribute to a historic maritime route that once connected Spain and Japan across the vast Pacific Ocean.
The pavilion is rich with symbolism that references both nations, incorporating elements such as the ocean and the sun as central design motifs. The project demonstrates multiple architectural and conceptual strengths, offering visitors an immersive and engaging experience that goes far beyond typical exhibition spaces. The visitor journey begins at a central meeting plaza and continues through blue-toned steps that evoke a descent into ocean depths, culminating in the prominent presence and symbolic power of the sun. This carefully orchestrated sequence creates a coherent narrative that interweaves seamlessly with the exhibition's thematic content.
The pavilion represents a unique collaborative effort between three complementary Madrid-based studios, each bringing distinct expertise to the project. EXTUDIO, under the leadership of Néstor Montenegro, contributes a solid background that merges architectural design with research, education, and public outreach. ENORME Studio, directed by Rocío Pina Isla and Carmelo Rodríguez Cedillo, brings international recognition and interdisciplinary experience spanning architecture, design, and exhibitions, with numerous awards and appearances at major cultural events and museums worldwide. Smart and Green Design, founded by Fernando Muñoz Gómez, specializes in creating immersive experiences and ephemeral architecture, with a particular focus on sustainability and the innovative integration of physical and digital environments. The studio operates according to a proprietary methodology specifically designed to minimize environmental impact while maintaining a strong commitment to both technological and cultural innovation.
In an extensive conversation with representatives from all three studios - Néstor Montenegro from EXTUDIO, Rocío Pina Isla from ENORME Studio, and Fernando Muñoz Gómez from Smart and Green Design - the teams provided detailed insights into the comprehensive design and execution process of the Spanish Pavilion at Expo Osaka 2025.
When asked about the initial guidelines and inspirations that shaped the pavilion's design, Montenegro explained that this marked the first time Acción Cultural Española had organized a joint competition encompassing both architectural design and exhibition content. "This was very special for us, first because it allowed us to partner with Fernando, who is a specialist in these areas, and also because it was very positive for the pavilion: it created a direct relationship between architecture and content," Montenegro noted. The brief from Acción Cultural Española proposed working around ocean themes as a way to position Spain in relation to Japan based on what clearly unites both nations: the sea.
Muñoz Gómez emphasized the freedom provided by the competition guidelines, which were unusually open-ended. "The brief was quite broad, which worked well because it allowed each proposal to find its own direction. The central theme was the blue economy and the relationship between both countries and the oceans - not only as a reflection on the present but, above all, as a vision for the future," he explained. Key concepts included Spain's international reputation for tourism and elements connected to climate and solar energy, which later became fundamental components in shaping the pavilion's narrative.
Pina Isla highlighted the importance of the pavilion's relationship to Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, noting how this massive wooden structure organizes the entire expo layout and influences visitor circulation patterns. "This was a major factor shaping the pavilion's design gesture and how it related to the ring: how it would be perceived from there, how people would circulate within the Expo," she said.
The competition theme, "The Kuroshio Current," became the crucial starting point for the project's development. Muñoz Gómez described this discovery as the moment when the team felt they had something clear and powerful enough to develop the connection between architectural design and exhibition content. The Kuroshio Current, equivalent to the Gulf Stream in the Pacific, serves as a key element for maritime transit, fishing, and climate regulation. In Japan, the Kuroshio Current is common knowledge taught in schools, creating an immediate cultural connection for visitors.
"The Kuroshio Current is like a maritime highway that has been used by the West to reach the East efficiently and quickly. It was discovered around the 16th century, and during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, it enabled very fruitful commercial relations between the two worlds," Muñoz Gómez explained. This historical maritime route, discovered by Portuguese and Spanish explorers, created significant commercial advantages and forged closer bonds between Spain and Japan than existed with other European nations.
The translation of oceanic metaphors into concrete spatial and material decisions required careful consideration of both functional and symbolic elements. Montenegro described a key moment when the team realized that a plaza wasn't just necessary but fundamental as a gathering space. "This plaza needed to have a performative and playful dimension, a place that would invite Expo visitors to stop, linger, and enjoy the space in front of the Spanish Pavilion," he said. The concept of ascent emerged from this idea - walking across a blue surface resembling a vast body of water leading toward the sun.
This visual metaphor, directly linked to the ocean, inspired a surface that would evoke water, symbolically act as solar reflection, and allow visitors to access the building through this distinctive element. The relationship between horizontal and vertical surfaces - between ground plane and volume - proved crucial in shaping the pavilion's material and spatial definition.
A particularly compelling example of the harmony between architectural design and exhibition content emerged during the development process. While the architectural teams worked on formal aspects, Muñoz Gómez's team developed the exhibition narrative. In one meeting, he mentioned wanting visitors to feel like they were floating in water, requiring a descending route. The architects, meanwhile, had been working on an ascending concept creating an elevated plaza with steps for sitting and circulation. This seemingly opposing set of requirements led to a shared solution that satisfied both needs.
"That conceptual and spatial meeting point between ascending and descending was crucial in consolidating the oceanic narrative as a unified architectural and exhibition experience," Montenegro explained. The relationship with the ocean became immediately clear - visitors were symbolically stepping onto water, with access that was direct, obvious, and intuitively understandable.
The symbolic narrative incorporating the sun, ocean, and historical connections between Spain and Japan required careful orchestration of spatial sequences, thresholds, and journey rhythms to create a coherent visitor experience. Muñoz Gómez described the ocean's duality as fundamental to the project - an exterior side represented by the building's architecture and an interior side represented by the exhibition.
"On one hand, there's the ocean as a visible, calm, contemplative surface. But beneath that lies a complex machinery of currents - like the Kuroshio - that maintain the balance of the planet's ecosystems," he explained. On the building's surface, the ocean and sun's reflection represent poetry and contemplation, while diving inside provides access to deeper dimensions where essential processes occur.
World expositions employ a key concept called "visitor experience," referring to how journeys are structured and experienced. This became a primary focus for the Spanish Pavilion team. The plaza serves as the entry threshold, with the sun acting as both symbolic element and narrative driver marking the journey's beginning. Through this entrance, descent begins - an immersion into the interior space.
The exhibition space features deep ultramarine blue coloring that darkens as visitors descend, creating an immersive underwater atmosphere reinforced by two key elements: screens acting as the ocean's voice, communicating through messages, images, animals, and people; and a large audiovisual installation featuring more than 100 meters of immersive screening representing ocean currents and conveying messages about planetary balance.
The initial section provides global ocean messaging, but as visitors progress and reach ground level, the journey unfolds through different areas showcasing Spain's capabilities and contributions: research, investment, heritage conservation, and marine-related renewable energies. Featured topics include floating wind energy, where Spain leads globally in patents and maintains significant commercial links with Japan; artificial intelligence applications in managing transoceanic routes and transport to reduce carbon emissions; and algae research with applications in food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals as more sustainable raw material sources.
The experience concludes with a dramatic shift from deep, dark blue space to complete brightness, like stepping into the sun itself. The narrative clearly positions visitors as entering from one shore - Japan - and exiting through another - Spain. This final space features Spanish folk music and tourism imagery presented through both digital and analog lenses: synchronized screens displaying real-time social media posts from travelers across Spain, alongside vintage-style tourist postcards representing past traditions.
The Mediterranean plaza and prominent sun feature create open, relational architecture within the pavilion that engages meaningfully with Osaka's urban and cultural context. Pina Isla noted the beautiful connection this gesture creates with Japanese audience sensibilities, particularly their strong appreciation for natural phenomena and daily relationships with nature.
"We aimed for the plaza to function as a welcoming space for everyone. While it incorporates elements representing our country, it also works with universal, almost planetary symbols that anyone can identify with," she explained. The team felt particular harmony with Japanese audiences regarding sensitive environmental readings.
Material selection and design processes emphasized craftsmanship commitments, particularly in creating the blue surface evoking water through intensive work with ceramic materials. "It's artisanal ceramics, but scaled up to architectural proportions - covering a large façade. That felt like a powerful way to establish dialogue with Japanese tradition, where ceramics and handcrafted work hold very strong cultural value," Pina Isla said.
To create oceanic depth sensations, the team employed six different blue shades blending together, complemented by bright yellow representing the sun. Vertical step faces feature glazed ceramic, while treads use slip-resistant surfaces maintaining overall visual effects. Carefully designed technical and ambient lighting helps build atmospheric qualities that transform the plaza into a performance stage where visitors constantly photograph experiences whether waiting in lines, climbing steps, walking in rain with umbrellas, using parasols for heat protection, or amid cooling mist activated during hot periods.
Reuse became a fundamental project aspect throughout Expo development, since the entire site requires complete dismantling after the event concludes. Montenegro explained that from the beginning, the team carefully considered which materials to include in construction, with the understanding that six months later, those materials should be reusable or at least recyclable.
Two main scenarios guided material choices: the ideal scenario where the pavilion could be fully dismantled and reassembled in another location, and a secondary scenario considering recycling if reuse proves impossible. The pavilion features large-span wooden structure designed for complete disassembly and reinstallation elsewhere. The team expressed preference for the pavilion remaining in Japan to avoid environmental impacts from transporting it back to Spain.
Over 80 percent of utilized materials are recyclable, a commitment maintained from the competition stage onward through collaboration with circularity consultants ensuring selected materials could re-enter industry cycles after use. Wood and steel easily return to production cycles, while the team incorporated other recycled materials including plastic panels made from recycled ocean nets for cladding and interior signage. This material, called Gravity White, represents a Spanish patent transforming recycled waste into new products. Interior partitioning utilized material made from pressed recycled paper at its final lifecycle stage.
The collaborative working process between three studios demonstrated the value of mutual respect, shared expertise, and integrated learning. Montenegro noted that all three studios knew each other well, making collaboration much easier through deep respect for each other's opinions and decisions - essential for smooth team functioning.
"We learned a great deal from one another, which is the most valuable part of partnering with other studios. Collaboration wasn't just about dividing tasks; it was a process where each studio contributed from their expertise and, above all, remained open to learning," Montenegro explained. From winning the competition to pavilion inauguration required approximately one year and nine months of intensive work with numerous external collaborators in both Japan and Spain.
Muñoz Gómez highlighted the interesting parallel structure where large Japanese and Spanish companies worked alongside each other rather than together on identical tasks, requiring different coordination approaches than usual. This setup provided significant flexibility for conducting tests in Spain, particularly on audiovisual components requiring numerous trials for resolution, color calibration, and fine-tuning that would have been difficult to manage with Japanese companies due to distance and tight deadlines.
Pina Isla emphasized that beyond friendship, the collaboration proved highly strategic. "The success of the pavilion - which was truly complex to carry out, especially given the distance and number of stakeholders involved - owes a great deal to trust. Trust among us, but also from Acción Cultural Española, the client, and project promoter," she said. One crucial lesson learned involved the importance of talent in negotiation and coordination, which simplifies many processes when numerous parties are involved.
When discussing how diverse approaches articulated into a common project, Montenegro noted the strategic importance of bonds between the three offices and each office's ability to understand different layers of the project at hand. "The condition of ephemerality is very naturally part of the work that ENORME does; that strategic vision about something that only lasts six months was fundamental. In our case, from EXTUDIO, perhaps we have public works more internalized, and Fernando brings his specific expertise," he explained.
The natural flow between approaches toward common goals created shared responsibility, with each office incorporating discursive layers most aligned with their expertise, ultimately enriching the overall project. This collaborative model demonstrates how architectural teams can successfully integrate diverse specializations and perspectives to create unified, meaningful cultural experiences that bridge international relationships while addressing contemporary challenges in sustainable design and cultural exchange.
The Spanish Pavilion at Expo Osaka 2025 stands as a testament to the power of collaborative design, cultural sensitivity, and sustainable construction practices. Through its innovative use of materials, thoughtful integration of historical narratives, and immersive visitor experiences, the pavilion successfully bridges past and future while celebrating the enduring connections between Spain and Japan through their shared relationship with the ocean.
