During the 2020 Expo in Dubai, Cartier presented his women’s Pavilion (women’s pavilion), a space dedicated to the valuation of the essential role of women in contemporary society. For six months, more than 340,000 visitors and 50 million viewers discovered a rich program of more than 120 conferences and panels. Elsewhere on the vast campus of the Universal Exhibition, the architect Tokyo Yuko Nagayama delivered his own vision by weaving links between Japanese and Arabic vernacular cultures in the design of the Japanese pavilion. Today, she joins the French house of jewelry and luxury watchmaking for Osaka Expo 2025, in order to extend Cartier’s commitment in favor of the empowerment of women, while launching a call for sustainability.
The Cartier Women’s Pavilion at night.
Open until October 13, this new Women’s Pavilion ingenious reuses certain sections of the trellis facade designed for Dubai. Steel rods, assembled by ball joints, reinterpret the traditional art of Kumiko wood, in which fine strips fit to form complex panels, doors and paravents, without using the slightest nail. In Osaka as in Dubai, the geometric motif is inspired by Asanoha – or hemp leaf – which is often found on textiles and decorative objects. Fine ininflammable PTFE membranes create diaphanous partitions evoking origami, while planted trees and other plant elements even more fading the border between interior and exterior.
Remember to adapt to the cramped site from Cartier to Osaka – located opposite the large wooden ring designed by Sou Fujimoto – the project embodies what Yuko Nagayama describes as “The objective of kinetic architecture”where buildings adjust to their environment. “No one had yet tried a reuse of this magnitude, from one exhibition to another”she underlines. “We have seen an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the potential for reuse. »»
