foster channels saudi arabia streets for expo 2025 osaka pavilion

Saudi Arabia’s vernacular channeled in Osaka

At Expo 2025 Osaka, amid the bold gestures and cultural showcases from around the globe, the Saudi Arabia Pavilion by Foster + Partners offers something more intimate: a carefully calibrated journey through the layered textures of Saudi towns and cities. Sited along the Yumeshima waterfront, the pavilion trades spectacle for subtlety — inviting visitors into an immersive architectural microcosm that channels the spirit of Saudi Arabia in transformation.

Winding alleyways, shaded courtyards, and ambient passageways form the architectural DNA of the Foster + Partners design, which echoes the scale and rhythm of traditional Saudi villages. ‘The project is a celebration of Saudi Arabian culture,’ says Luke Fox, Head of Studio, ‘evoking the wonderful streetscapes and captivating natural landscapes that define the Kingdom.’

The pavilion, designed for Saudi Arabia’s Expo presence in Osaka, is at once about spatial storytelling and placemaking — guiding visitors through a space that blurs the line between exhibition and lived environment. See designboom’s previous coverage here.

images © Nigel Young / Foster + Partners

Foster + partners draws from architectural heritage

Inside, Foster + Partners’ Saudi Arabia Pavilion unfolds cinematically, transitioning from a forecourt of the nation’s native flora into a layered urban scene at Expo 2025 Osaka. At its core is the Saudi Courtyard, the centerpiece of the design and a contemplative heart within the urban maze. By day, it offers respite and reflection; by night, it becomes a performance venue pulsing with light, music, and activity. The architects design the pavilion as a functioning space, animated by the sounds, smells, and textures of Saudi Arabia’s cities.

The experience deepens as visitors enter a network of meandering streets, each revealing curated spaces shaped in collaboration with Journey — a team comprising 59 Productions and Squint/Opera. These ‘windows and doorways’ offer immersive, multimedia moments — portals into the culture, arts, and everyday life of Saudi Arabia. ‘It is its own urban microcosm,” notes Tony Miki, Partner at Foster + Partners, ‘that carefully balances tradition and heritage with modern technologies which are shaping the Kingdom’s future.’

‘This was a unique way of conceiving and delivering a pavilion,’ says Leo Warner, Director of Journey, ‘that both platforms the people of Saudi Arabia to tell their own story and delivers a unique approach to nation-branding in an Expo environment.’

the pavilion’s massing recalls the organic shapes of traditional Saudi villages

geometries informed by climate and ancient settlements

The undulating, porous massing of the Saudi Arabia Pavilion in Osaka was developed by Foster + Partners using computational fluid dynamics to passively regulate airflow. The geometry draws from the organic shapes of Saudi Arabia’s ancient settlements but is tuned for the Osaka climate. Cool winds from the west are ushered in during peak summer months, while in cooler periods, the forecourt acts as a windbreak. It’s a thoughtful approach that blends architectural heritage with contemporary environmental performance.

True to its forward-looking ethos, the Pavilion targets net-zero operational carbon and the top grade of Japan’s CASBEE environmental rating. The Foster + Partners team emphasized the Pavilion’s long-term adaptability, aiming for a structure that could live beyond Expo 2025 Osaka as a legacy of sustainable, inclusive design. ‘Every element has been carefully considered,’ says Fox, ‘to create a one-of-a-kind experience that is highly sustainable and accessible to everyone.’

visitors are invited to explore a ‘village’ of meandering streets