Experiential Design at Osaka 2025: How it is Impacting Design of Expo 2031 Minnesota, USA

12/30/25

As 2025 comes to a close and we ramp up our design of Expo 2031, let's reflect on what our delegation experienced at Osaka 2025 and how it’s impacting experience design for Expo 2031 Minnesota, USA. Below are the moments that stuck with us—and how we’ll apply them to Expo 2031. Expo 2031

1) The Grand Ring made the site feel legible, social, and cinematic

What worked in Osaka: Sou Fujimoto’s 2-km timber Grand Ring was more than a symbol. It cooled the walkways, created a breathtaking skywalk, and gave people a place to pause and reset between big moments. A simple, beautiful way to read the whole site, it may have been the most underrated, beloved place to pause and take in the view; a true landmark of craft-meets-innovation.

How we’ll amplify this concept for 2031: Think of the Grand Ring less as a thing and more as a guiding idea: a continuous, intuitive spine that makes a vast site feel legible and shared. For Expo 2031, it inspires a visitor journey through climate zones that flows by instinct. Think of the “ring” as a story structure, not just a form. It welcomes everyone, ties buildings, gardens, and programs into a single, legible journey, and gives us a flexible framework we can express in many ways, offering clarity and choice throughout.

2) Signature Pavilions that felt alive and personal

What worked in Osaka:

• Future of Life (producer Hiroshi Ishiguro) turned androids and AI into a contemplative, emotionally sticky journey. Less tech demo and more meditation that happens to use robots and AI. The pacing was calm, the characters were memorable, and the whole thing lingered emotionally long after I left. It showed how future tech can feel human, not cold.

• null² (Yoichi Ochiai / NOIZ) dissolved the line between digital and physical with a mirror membrane, barefoot entry and reactive surfaces. A shimmery, in-between world where material and media blurred. It looked incredible on camera, but more importantly it felt reactive and alive in person. That “is it physical or digital?” tension kept people exploring instead of just snapping a photo and moving on. I was surprised the experience was so contained, the exterior intimated it was much larger.

• Earth Mart made the food cycle playful and profound with projection-mapped finales and hands-on storytelling. A market that teaches without wagging a finger. It made the hidden impacts of everyday choices visible and tactile, then grounded the message in craft and second-life thinking. I walked out with a clearer sense of what “sustainable” can look like day to day.

  
  

How they impact thinking for 2031: Lean into personalization, instagrammable moments, technology and gamification. Also, people loved the experiences but didn’t love feeling managed by an app or having different apps for an experience. Reservations and queue friction dulled spontaneity. Big takeaway reminder for us: tech should lower friction and anxiety, not add it.

3) Purposeful storytelling: Women’s Pavilion showed how to move hearts and minds

What worked in Osaka: The Women’s Pavilion (Cartier; Es Devlin artistic lead; Yuko Nagayama architecture) used intimate narratives and a rooftop garden to turn the personalized experience into a lived journey. This felt like a values piece that actually walked the talk. The architecture was light, reusable, and smart; the storytelling was intimate and beautifully staged. It didn’t lecture; it invited me in, made space for reflection, and backed it up with real circular design moves. From the moment we entered, every moment and detail was fine-tuned, carefully curated to draw and hold your attention at every turn. I didn’t want it to end!

How we’ll amplify for 2031: From the Women’s Pavilion, we’ll carry forward a few core principles: lead with values that are felt, not stated, through design choices that embody circularity and care; use intimate, human-scale storytelling within a large event to create emotional connection without preaching; finish journeys with a contemplative, nature-forward moment that anchors memory; design for inclusion and ease as a creative baseline (clarity, comfort, access); and turn inspiration into measurable action so guests can do something tangible before they leave.

4) Engagement in the lines

What worked in Osaka: Don’t get me wrong, lines were sometimes a THING at Osaka 2025, however many lines didn’t feel like lines, they felt like the pre-show. China put QR codes on signs and even bookmarks so you could scan and get a simple guide and short videos in multiple languages. France’s codes opened a quick virtual tour and behind-the-scenes clips. Luxembourg added AR, so 3D models and bite-size stories popped up while you waited.

How we’ll amplify for 2031: When thinking about the attendee experience, the queue is Act 1: gentle botanicals set the mood, short science moments pop up at eye level, and quick co-op games make the wait feel faster while we keep throughput to a clear baseline, so lines never drag. An AR layer lets you lift your phone and see simple overlays: what garden you’re in, a 30-second story about the tech ahead, or a playful prompt you can complete with the people next to you. Entry stays friction-free with passes that work offline, consent toggles on your wristband, and easy family and accessibility modes. Perhaps even live wait-time AI suggesting cooler, shaded paths, these are some of the concepts we’re investigating.

5) Kinetic media that earned attention

What worked in Osaka: What impressed me in Osaka was when the building acted like part of the show. At Pasona’s Natureverse, a huge LED piece actually moved to match the story on screen, so the scene felt alive, not just projected. At NOIZ’s null², the mirrored skin shimmered and subtly shifted with wind and hidden motion, blurring where the screen ended and the structure began. That kind of real, reactive movement grabbed people in ways different than static displays.

How we’ll amplify for 2031: At Expo 2031, we’re thinking about how media won’t just play, it will listen and respond. Imagine…when the wind picks up, light ribbons and a tall LED sculpture ripple in the same direction and speed, so you feel the breeze and see it. As plants “breathe” and release moisture, a living wall glows softly to show how they cool the air. When bees and butterflies visit the gardens, quick bloom AR animations sparkle nearby, turning pollination into a little celebration. On hot days, temperature cues nudge shade canopies and a light mist to open, and when it rains, perhaps a fountain switches to a rain-harvest pattern so you can see how water is captured and reused.

Bottom line: Osaka reminded us that great experiences should feel alive and a little bit magical. For Expo 2031, we’re aiming for smart, human moments and spaces that react to weather and crowds, lines that feel like the pre-show, and stories you can jump into (and share). Tech stays helpful and engaging, wayfinding is obvious, and there’s always a comfy place to land at the end. We’ll build with circularity in mind, so pieces live on after closing, but mostly we want you to leave energized; having learned something cool, done something small that matters, and wanting to come back for more.

~ Allison DeLeone, Expo 2031 Design Delegation, TPN Events