The Qatar Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates, draws inspiration from the region’s maritime heritage by modelling its architecture on traditional dhow sailing boats.
The pavilion features a scalloped timber frame, crafted using both Qatari and Japanese joinery techniques, enveloped in a curving white fabric façade that resembles the sails of these historic vessels.
Maritime Heritage Shapes Pavilion Design
Commissioned by Qatar’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, with creative direction from Qatar Museums’ think tank Qatar Blueprint, the pavilion’s design incorporates arched openings in the fabric skin, revealing a continuous walkway around the wooden structure.
Inside, the pavilion hosts an exhibition titled From the Coastline We Progress, designed by AMO, the research studio affiliated with Dutch architecture firm OMA. The exhibition explores how Qatar’s coastline has shaped its culture, identity, and economy.
Exhibition Explores Qatar’s Coastal Identity
AMO director Samir Bantal explained, “We chose to tell the story of Qatar through its coastline: the place where visitors first set foot and from where many departed for pearling and fishing. Ninety-nine percent of Qatar’s population lives, works, and recreates along the coast.”
The exhibition is organised into 12 zones, centred around a cinema room with fabric walls designed in collaboration with architecture studio Inside Outside. These “Sea Curtain” walls feature patterns representing Qatar’s maritime boundaries, highlighting the intricate relationship between human activity and natural environments.
At the core of the space is a cinema screen divided into three horizontal panels, showing an AMO-directed film on Qatar’s history. The visuals include archaeological sites, nature reserves, ecological habitats, and coastal cities. Surrounding the screen, partition walls mimic sand dunes, creating a quiet sanctuary within the pavilion.
Cultural Reflection and Expo Context
Bantal described the cinema space as inspired by winter camps where many Qataris retreat from city life. This geometric “dune” form offers visitors a contemplative area within the bustling exhibition.
Elsewhere at Expo 2025 Osaka, architect Lina Ghotmeh designed the Bahrain Pavilion with similar dhow-inspired timber elements. All national pavilions are housed within a vast ring-shaped wooden structure by Japanese studio Sou Fujimoto Architects, touted as the world’s largest wooden structure.