The Netherlands Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka is a benchmark for how creative technology can elevate cultural storytelling on the world stage. With the theme of “Common Ground,” the pavilion invites visitors to reflect on openness, cooperation, and sustainability. Its centrepiece, a symbolic man-made sun, embodies hope and clean energy, while bespoke interactive technologies empower guests to experience the story in unique, personal ways.
Creative Technology as Storytelling
BeWunder, as turnkey partner, designed and delivered the pavilion’s complete visitor experience, including multimedia systems, lighting, scenic fit-out, exhibit fabrication, graphics, and interactive technologies. Unlike traditional exhibitions where technology is layered on top of content, here technology is the content. It is embedded into the pavilion’s architecture and narrative, ensuring that the creative vision is inseparable from the technical delivery.
The most innovative feature is the custom interactive sphere system. Engineered specifically for this pavilion, the spheres allow visitors to engage with digital content in real time. Each guest’s movement and interaction generates responses, creating personalised experiences that evolve dynamically. This creative technology transforms the pavilion from a passive display into a living dialogue between visitor and story.
Integration of Art, Design & Engineering
The creative use of technology is not limited to the spheres. The pavilion’s multimedia layers — projection, dynamic lighting, and responsive soundscapes — shift in harmony with visitor interactions. The result is an environment that feels alive, adjusting continuously to its audience.
The engineering of the interactive sphere system itself is a creative achievement. Modular, scalable, and robust, it was designed to handle hundreds of thousands of Expo visitors while retaining intimacy and personal impact. This balance between scale and individualisation is one of the project’s defining innovations.
Innovation Through Collaboration
Collaboration between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Netherlands (end client), A New Dawn BV (commissioner), Tellart (exhibition designer), and BeWunder (turnkey partner) ensured that creative vision and technical expertise reinforced one another. The exhibition design gave meaning, while BeWunder’s technical creativity made it a reality. This synergy turned abstract concepts of cooperation and energy into interactive, emotional experiences.
Sustainability in Creative Technology
The pavilion also demonstrates how creative technology can serve sustainability. Systems were designed with modularity and efficiency in mind, ensuring energy-conscious operation during Expo and potential repurposing beyond it. The interactive spheres and AV systems can be reconfigured for future exhibitions, extending their life cycle.
Impact & Legacy
Since opening in April 2025, the Netherlands Pavilion has stood out among Expo’s most innovative projects. Visitors praise its ability to combine emotional resonance with interactive freedom, making each journey distinct. The man-made sun provides a unifying symbol, while the sphere system ensures that every individual has a role in the story.
What makes this project award-worthy in the Creative Technology category is not only the engineering of new tools, but their artistic integration into a narrative. The technology is invisible yet indispensable — woven into the theme of “Common Ground” so seamlessly that visitors experience meaning before mechanics.
By pioneering a custom-built interactive system, embedding multimedia into narrative design, and ensuring sustainable reuse, the Netherlands Pavilion sets a new standard for how creative technology can empower cultural storytelling at scale.
Partners
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs Netherlands: Set the theme of “Common Ground” as a national vision for Expo.
- A New Dawn BV: Commissioned and oversaw pavilion delivery.
- Tellart: Created the exhibition design, translating the concept into spatial and narrative form.
- BeWunder: Delivered turnkey design, build, and integration of multimedia, lighting, interactives, scenic fit-out, and graphics, including the engineering and execution of the bespoke interactive sphere system.
