Designing a Content-Led World EXPO Pavilion
The UK Pavilion at EXPO 2025 Osaka reimagines what a pavilion can be. Traditionally, pavilions highlight national achievements through architecture, often impressive in scale but lacking in narrative. Immersive were briefed to approach the design from a different perspective, leading with experiential design and content.
Delivering within the Expo framework poses challenges requiring innovation. Everything from the plot, building restrictions, budgets, timelines, and complex stakeholder integration needed to be met, whilst still developing an integrated engaging, entertaining and accessible experience. We knew innovation across our design process and animation pipeline was required to successfully deliver the project.
Immersive Visitor Experience
Visitors pass through four immersive spaces, each advancing the story taking them on a dynamic unfolding journey. Groups of 30 pulse through 20 minutes of cinematic animations and interactivity, guided by lighting design.
We believe stories are the most powerful way to connect with audiences, inviting emotional engagement and fostering curiosity. Our story follows a Japanese girl imagining her father’s journey to the UK. Through her eyes, visitors travel around a whimsical world, constructed entirely from building blocks. This simple metaphor symbolises creativity, collaboration, and the coming together of ideas.
Visitors are guided by PIX, a shape-shifting mascot who embodies the UK’s spirit of innovation. Each transformation, whether train, guitar or computer, showcases how small ideas combine into something greater.
The result is a living narrative that envelops visitors in colour, sound, and motion. Visitors are drawn into the emotional arc of the characters experiencing the UK, not as a series of facts, but as a journey full of discovery.
Innovation and Development
Over 20 minutes of feature film-quality animation were produced by our in-house multidisciplinary team. We utilised a traditional animation studio set up for our character and environmental design but developed an innovative hybrid AI workflow to produce animated “real-life” versions of our characters.
Accessibility for the physical experience and the content was integrated from the beginning. We conducted testing to gather feedback, anticipate barriers, and make appropriate adjustments. Seven versions were produced including Japanese and English audio, subtitles, open captions, and adjusted sensory mode, requiring a sophisticated show control system.
A Seamless Experience
Sculptural 3D scenic designs, combined with complex projection mapping, blended digital content with physical architecture to bring the story to life. From the outset we integrated technical and spatial design, ensuring technology disappeared into the background. This created immersive spaces, where animated worlds unfold around visitors, allowing them to lose themselves in the imaginative world.
Projection mapping and interactivity were used as a storytelling tool. Focussed on young families, we created an atmosphere that feels fun, rather than technological.
Thematic Devices For Full Immersion
Every creative decision was rooted in the metaphor of building blocks. This allowed us to translate complex ideas into a language that is universally intuitive and joyful. The theming extrapolated across all design choices, from the architectural building shape (modular blocks), to branding, and visual art direction, ensuring visitors were immersed, from beginning to end.
All environments, props, and characters were designed from a simple kit of parts: square and rectangular blocks. To avoid rigidity, we introduced imperfections to give the animations warmth and personality. Characters were intentionally simple, yet animated with bold expressions and exaggerated movements.
The Final Outcome
The spaces created for the story, combined with the animation innovations and the technical solutions, all coming together, allowed us to deliver a bigger innovation - a groundbreaking EXPO pavilion. Over a million people have visited the UK pavilion as a whole. It is a reminder that innovation happens when people come together with creativity, building something new, one block at a time.
UK Pavilion, World Expo 2025 Osaka
Google Reviews:
“The usage of space is well done, the production value of the experience was that of a nearby theme park, and the information provided was easy to understand for all different kinds of demographics.”
“PIX gave us a clear and easy-to-understand tour, and it was a lot of fun! It was also exciting to think that my small idea could lead to something big.”
“The theme was clear and the experience was fun, so it was great. It might be the best one I've ever been to.”
Partners
- ES Global (Design-Build Contractor)
