The Future Life Village pavilion stands at the heart of Expo 2025 Osaka as an official venue organized under the theme of ‘Co-Creation and Dialogue.’ Designed by Japanese studio KOMPAS as a tiny, village-like complex, the pavilion brings together three exhibition programs — Future Life Experience, Team Expo Pavilion, and Best Practices.

Reflecting the Expo’s guiding principle of ‘Decentralization and Dispersion,’ the design draws from the ecological memory of Yumeshima, a reclaimed island transformed into a biodiverse wetland. At its core is a central courtyard that acts as living green infrastructure, symbolizing the cycle of life. Scattered planting beds and ponds highlight individual plant species, encouraging visitors to encounter an environment where people and nature coexist.

images © Yohei Sasakura

gabion walls infuse the structure with landscape

Around the courtyard of Osaka’s Future Life Village, circular exhibition units of varying sizes are positioned along a continuous ring-shaped circulation path. With this configuration, the team at KOMPAS allows each unit to function independently while maintaining a sense of collective unity within the Expo. The ring pathway creates a natural flow of people, and invites visitors to freely explore the village.

Exhibition units facing the courtyard are built with gabion walls, or hollow mesh partitions filled with stone. Constructed with steel rebar trusses and welded mesh, these cage-like walls support ventilation, filter sunlight, and even welcome plant growth. Their infills — vitrified slag stones from incinerated industrial waste and synthetic pumice made from recycled glass — highlight the project’s experimental use of recycled materials and its commitment to sustainability within the urban context of Osaka.

Future Life Village pavilion opens at Expo 2025 Osaka with a design by KOMPAS

experimental pavilion for passive climate strategies

Rainwater and irrigation runoff are collected in a central pond, forming part of a heat exchange system that cools semi-outdoor spaces of the Future Life Village in Osaka. In summer, water is sprinkled over the gabion walls to lend passive cooling, which demonstrates a holistic approach to water circulation and natural climate control. This integration of architecture and landscape establishes the pavilion as an experimental model of sustainable design.

The adjacent public restrooms extend the project’s environmental strategies at a smaller scale. Built with cross-laminated timber roofing and clerestory windows, its circular layout supports efficient circulation and naturally illuminates the interiors. 

the project unites three exhibition programs and public facilities in a single complex

a central courtyard reflects the biodiversity of reclaimed Yumeshima Island

a timber restroom facility extends the sustainable design approach

planting beds and ponds create a biodiverse landscape

circular exhibition units connect through a continuous ring pathway for easy flow

Gabion walls made of recycled materials merge the architecture with the landscape

project info:

name: Future Life Village

architect: KOMPAS | @kompas_arch

location: Expo 2025 Osaka | @expo2025japan

area: 1,272 square meters (13,690 square feet)

completion: 2025

photography: © Yohei Sasakura | @yoheisasakura

structure: Graph Studio
MEP: ZO Consulting Engineers
landscape: eiko tomura landscape architects
contractor: Sanda Komuten Inc.

The post gabion walled-pavilion surrounds biodiverse courtyard at expo 2025 osaka appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

studio KOMPAS introduces the ‘nishiji project’, a hybrid structure conceived to accommodate a family house and a gallery space. the client, an art collector operating a real estate business, requested to position the new structure on his parent’s property — close to their existing residence — in the historical part of chiba, japan. to successfully incorporate all the needs of the owners, the final composition takes shape as a series of seven staggered volumes, standing on a washed concrete mass that resembles a castle base. with this arrangement, the architects sought to make the building stand out, all the while making the most of the natural light and generating a dynamic spatial experience for both the residents and the visitors. images © vincent hecht | @vincenthecht.photography

forming seven sawtooth roof units

the design team positioned the galleries and offices in a vertical three-storey arrangement on the southern side towards the urban fabric, shaping the main face of the building. behind this facade, the building volume gradually steps down towards the north and ends up to a central garden. with this organization, the architects moderated the level differences between the two buildings, yet formed a visual communication between them. according to the client’s requirements, they aimed to create a public entrance, ‘an attraction’ as they mentioned, inviting visitors to come in. ‘we aimed to incorporate publicness and versatility into the new building together with attractive design, like ‘museum with a house’ rather than ‘house with galleries’.’ mentioned the hong kong and tokyo-based architectural design studio.

when it came to external materiality, the design team at KOMPAS wrapped most of the sawtooth roof units with custom-designed traditional kawara tiles. with this gesture, they sought to reminisce the old warehouse building that existed on the site from the grandparents’ generation. apart from the memorial meaning, these tiles are blackened to resist salt damage and form a solid appearance to protect the residents’ living. moreover, in some cases, the kawara tile turned and fixture outwards to assemble louvered openings. therefore, the kawara louvers partially open the solid façade to incorporate filtered daylights and views with privacy control from the road. on the other hand, the north-facing sawtooth roofs let abundant daylights enter in and form a well-lit environment for the art spaces. as it is perceived, the pitch and height of the sawtooth roofs differ according to the internal functions, to incorporate appropriate daylights.

generous interstitial spaces such as canopies and terraces distributed throughout the building and offer a unique spatial experience to the inhabitants and visitors. the southern three steep roofs function as skylights filling the gallery full of natural light, while the main living space below is penetrated by openings that overlook the garden.

considering the growing collection of the owner, various interstitial spaces are designed for flexible usages and potential exhibition spaces to accompany the main galleries. furthermore, spacious outdoor terraces and the external landscape welcome younger and older to wander around and experience dynamic spatial sequences with various materiality and daylights.

the gallery dubbed ‘kanda & oliveira’ is now open to the public (see more here). 

the southern three steep roofs function as skylights filling full of daylights into the gallery

resting on a washed monolithic concrete mass

the height of the sawtooth roofs differ depending on the internal functions

the three uppermost louvers overflow the gallery with daylight

forming rooms with varying sizes

image by munemasa takahashi

project info:

name: nishiji project

architects: KOMPAS
status: completed (2021)
location: funabashi city, chiba, japan
area: 557 sqm
client: nishiji inc.+ kanda & oliveira
contractor: aoki koumuten  co.,ltd.
structure: yasuhirokaneda structure
MEP: MOCHIDA
lighting: tokosha / takumi fujiwara
landscape: N-tree / takeshi nagasaki
curtain: akane moriyama
photography: © vincent hecht | @vincenthecht.photography

The post seven staggered volumes by KOMPAS accommodate family house and gallery in japan appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

‘ibis sendagaya’ by KOMPAS is a concrete residential building in tokyo resembling a fortress that stands out form the urban fabric thanks to its irregularly-stacked volumes and lush vegetation. located in a mixed use area in sendagaya, near the national stadium in tokyo, the project is composed of two floors of tenant spaces and the client’s two-story residence above them. generously planted terraces become a part of the building’s exterior, creating a spatial continuum of inside and outside that forms a ‘three-dimensional loop’ of the living spaces.

the main challenge of the project was how to accommodate comfortable residential environments and sufficiently profitable tenant spaces within the site constrains, which allowed only 160% of the maximum floor area ratio due to the narrow front street. ‘the client, a family of five who used to live in an ample detached house with a garden, had concerns about the spatial quality of their new house with less available floor area and in a denser neighbourhood,’ explains the hong kong and tokyo-based architectural design studio. ‘thus, we tried to make it as open and generous as possible by actively incorporating outdoor spaces, despite the difficult site constraints.’

images © vincent hecht | @vincenthecht.photography

DUPLEX RESIDENCE RISES HIGHER THAN NEIGHBORING ROOFS

led by mai komuro, KOMPAS performed an elaborate analysis and studies of the site’s conditions and limitations to make use of its full potential. despite the low floor area ratio allowance, the maximum building height of the site is defined at 20 meters if the volume is adapted to the complicated shadow calculation. however, most of the buildings nearby are kept lower than 10 meters to avoid extra code compliance processes. while the neighborhood is relatively dense on the street level for residential use, the architects found potential open voids to create comfortable environments above the surrounding low buildings. therefore, the concrete residential building was developed to be taller on the northern side, elevating the duplex residence higher than neighboring roofs while maximizing the building volume and capturing open views of the surroundings.

each level’s floor plate is uniquely skewed according to the shadow regulation, usages, spatial sequences, and vertical relationships. this stacking generates shading overhangs and various outdoor spaces such as external hallways and green terraces. the linear façades around the building’s slab volumes are wrapped by metal bands with repetitive vertical slats like louvers. their design comes from the positive interpretation of the code requirements forcing a vertical slats design on the rooftop balustrade to conform to the shadow regulation.

through the fully openable sliding windows at each floor, both the living room and the hall can extend towards the planted terraces and become a part of the living spaces. beyond the clerestory window of the living room, a roof terrace spirals up to the wide slope covered by the artificial turf, resembling an exclusive playground almost floating over the sky. ‘besides joyful kids running around, light, air, view, and all the flow of life and nature circulate seamlessly throughout inside and outside,’ notes KOMPAS.‘this project is intended to suggest one way of the approach towards mixed-use development and living spaces in the urban context. at the same time we purely pursued the sort of abundant and enjoyable living spaces where we would almost feel envy the kids growing up there.’

the linear façades around the building’s slab volumes are wrapped by metal bands with repetitive vertical slats

generously planted terraces become a part of the building’s exterior

concrete ground level

the boundaries between inside and outside dissolve

open and comfortable interior spaces

fully openable sliding windows allow the living room and the hall to extend towards the planted terraces

project info:

name: ibis sendagaya

architect: KOMPAS

location: tokyo, japan

site: 269 sqm (max. 160%)

area: approx. 430 sqm

contractor: o’hara architectural and construction, ltd.

structure: HSC

MEP: zo consulting engineers

landscape: onshitsu / yuichi tsukada

completion year: 2021

photography: © vincent hecht

The post fortress-like residential building with irregular green terraces stands out in tokyo appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.