Tokyo, 8 August 2023

PRESS RELEASE
Signing off the construction and design of the France Pavilion
The OSAKA 2025 World Expo

Osaka is, for the second time, organising the Universal Exhibition after the last time in1970. Osaka 2025’s mission is to act as a laboratory for innovation and expert knowledge
to build the society of the future around the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and toshare them with as many people as possible.
The France Pavilion has marked an important stage in the project today in Tokyo by
officially signing off the building contracts for and the permanent staging of the Osaka
2025 France Pavilion.
The winners of the architectural and construction competition are the French firmsof architects Coldefy and the Italian design and innovation agency CRA-Carlo Ratti
Associati; they are working in association with the integrated design and construction
consultancy Rimond, and the Coloco landscaping consultancy, civil engineering
consultancy Bollinger & Grohmann and the sustainable strategy consultants Ramboll.
The permanent exhibition will be designed by visual artist Emard and staged by GSM
Project, the exhibition and staging team. It will be produced by Expomobilia, a generalcontractor for international exhibitions, working together with the lighting designers 8’18’’
and Topager’s landscape gardeners.
Jacques Maire, the President Of COFREX and the Chief Curator of the France
Pavilion says “This is a crucial stage that enables France to prepare for our presence inTokyo under the best circumstances possible, against a backdrop in Japan where costs
are high and there are shortages of manpower and construction materials. The COFREX
Board of Directors and juries unanimously adopted the two strong proposals thatshowcase the image of France in a highly innovative way, while continuing to respect ourecological commitments, the budget assigned to the project and our partners’ support.

1These outstanding teams, headed up by two renowned French talents with a FrancoItalian team for construction and an international one for the staging, will enable France
to express the admiration it has for Japan, and to provide its young people with an
exceptional experience.
Thomas Coldefy, Founder and Director of Coldefy & Associates says ”world expos
are the perfect platform for innovating in the spheres of design and architecture. TheFrance Pavilion will showcase France’s unique ‘savoir-faire’, and at the same time show
how we humans can pursue a closer relationship with the natural world and reconcile
architecture with landscapes, while continuing to offer an alternative vision for our shared
future.”
The artist Justine Emard says, “The France Pavilion at the Osaka Kansai World Expois designed to be a living work of art. The permanent exhibition will be an invitation to thegeneral public to take a poetic journey through it, alongside the different kinds ofintelligence found in the world, be it human, animal, plant-based or artificial. It will createa dialogue between the arts, the sciences, technology and landscapes, based on a fusionof all the energies of the Pavilion’s designers and partners.”
The Osaka 2025 France Pavilion’s architecture will be unveiled in Autumn 2023 It will belocated in the “Empowering Lives” zone, close to the Japan Pavilion and the World Expo
entrance. It will provide a shop window for France’s economic social and cultural attributes
and so will contribute to France’s attractiveness and prestige to the 28 million visitors
expected to visit from Japan and worldwide.
The Expo will be held between 13 April and 13 October 2025, on the site of the artificial
Yumeshima Island. Its theme will be “Designing tomorrow’s society, imagining our lives inthe future” around three distinct spaces: “Saving Lives”, “Connecting Lives” and“Empowering Lives”.
➔ www.expo2025.or.jp
The ‘Compagnie Française des Expositions’ (COFREX), is a Public Limited Company
which was founded in January 2018, and is the first permanent body devoted to preparing,organising and rolling out France’s participation in World and international Expos. Its
sustainable strategy draws on its experience of previous exhibitions, ensuring the mosteffective organisation possible with the lowest cost and impact achievable. It is based ona partnership between public and private operators working to promote France’s image
and international appeal.
➔ www.cofrex.fr

COFREX PRESS CONTACTS
Nathalie Mercier
Communication and Scheduling Director+33 6 14 61 91 73
nathalie.mercier@cofrex.fr2