Text description provided by the architects. The Panasonic Group Pavilion, The Land of NOMO, is designed for children. Through an organic and fluid architectural form, the pavilion seeks to reflect the image of children, whose futures remain unfixed and ever-evolving. While the Japan Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai featured a highly systemized structure based on geometry, the Panasonic Pavilion explores a structural approach that appears free-form and organic.
The initial sketch by Yuko Nagayama resembled a child’s drawing, ambiguous and abstract. It symbolized children as beings that have yet to take form, continuously changing and growing. Thus, the architectural form was conceived as an organic structure composed of small, cell-like units aggregating into a whole.
Based on the theme “720-Degree Circulation,” the structure is composed of an accumulation of three-dimensionally bent steel pipe motifs like butterfly wings. These pipes were shaped using specialized 3D-forming machinery. Three types of steel pipes, 38.1 mm, 45.0 mm, and 48.6 mm in diameter, were selected based on structural requirements. A total of 1,404 motifs with six different shapes were vertically stacked in 20 layers to form arches. By assembling various arches with four different radii, a dynamic and irregular façade was created.
To ensure structural stability, particularly against critical wind loads, wind tunnel testing was conducted in conjunction with structural analysis. The goal was to identify a form that was both structurally efficient and visually expressive. Each butterfly motif is fitted with a sputter-coated organza membrane, which responds to the ocean breeze with constant motion. The color of the organza shifts depending on the viewing angle, creating a dynamic, skin-like surface that envelops the entire structure.
Additionally, the pavilion incorporates upcycled materials sourced from Panasonic Group’s own factories. Off-cuts and waste materials such as artificial marble used in kitchen systems and prism sheets used in televisions have been repurposed for interior finishes and lighting fixtures, particularly in the reception areas. These recycled elements, along with the cyclical motifs embodied by the butterfly forms, contribute to a façade that symbolizes humanity’s role as part of a continuously circulating world. Like the Women’s Pavilion, this building has also secured a relocation site following the conclusion of the Expo and is now moving forward into its next cycle of reuse.
