The design brief for the Australia Pavilion at World Expo 2025 Osaka centred on the narrative theme of ‘Chasing the Sun’, a response to the main World Expo theme, ‘Designing Future Society for Our Lives’. The design had to represent commonality across all the nation’s peoples and cultures, old and new.

From the outset, the Buchan design team worked alongside Indigenous cultural advisors Karrda to embed Country into the Australia Pavilion and amplify First Nations perspectives, experiences and interests.

Conceptually, the Pavilion’s design is inspired by the diverse forms of Australia’s ubiquitous eucalypt, symbolising the diversity and resilience of the Australian people.

The Pavilion’s form is an abstraction of the eucalypt gumnut bursting into bloom – a powerful symbol of new life and the boundless potential of future generations. This dynamic imagery symbolises growth and transformation: the gumnut represents the seed of possibility while its flower signifies the vibrancy, optimism and warmth of contemporary Australian society and a future full of promise. As a response to the Expo theme ‘Designing Future Society for Our Lives’, it symbolises the empowerment of the next generation to face the challenges of tomorrow with confidence.

The Pavilion’s bold and striking arc represents an open-arm gesture – inviting, protective and embracing, creating a sense of inclusivity, inspiration, and connection. It expresses openness to new ideas, collaboration, and progress.

The use of tensile fabric – a soft yet durable material – is integral to the design, with its translucency allowing sunlight to shape the Pavilion’s atmosphere and visitor experience across the day.

Showcasing Australia’s unique, natural beauty, the Australia Pavilion creates a canvas for sharing the country’s stories, innovation, and creativity.

Inside the Australia Pavilion, the exhibition design is conceived as a bushwalk that captures the experience of walking on Country. Visitors are taken on an immersive, interactive journey that engages all the senses. The experience ‘chases the sun’ across land, sky and sea Country, based on the structure and flow of the song lines that traverse the land and have shared knowledge between Indigenous peoples for tens of thousands of years. Moving between the real and surreal, and transitioning from day to night, the journey celebrates the world’s oldest continuous living cultures.

Australia Pavilion World Expo 2025 Osaka opens.

Hero Photography © Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade