- Woven: Philippine Pavilion at Expo 2025 Showcases Culture, Craft and Sustainability
- The pavilion celebrates Filipino craftsmanship through innovative construction, traditional textiles, and sustainable design at a global architectural platform.
- Project: Woven: The Philippine Pavilion At Expo 2025 Osaka
- Location:
- Japan
- Architects:
- Carlo Calma Consultancy Inc., Cat Inc.
- Typology:
- Pavilions
- Year: 2025
- Images © Masaki Komatsu
Woven Pavilion, designed by the Philippines-based architecture firm Carlo Calma Consultancy Inc., in collaboration with the Japan-based architecture design studio Cat Inc., is a tribute to Filipino culture. Built using over a thousand pieces of woven rattan, the Woven: Philippine Pavilion draws inspiration from the metaphorical concept of “woven,” reflecting the scalability of weaving, from traditional furniture to architectural scale.
One of the key ideas behind the design was the implementation of reusability and the exploration of new architectural possibilities. The team worked under a short construction timeline and navigated complex production, logistics, and other challenges. As a tribute to indigenous culture, over 200 woven textiles provide vibrant touches of color to the pavilion’s natural-colored façade. Each is encapsulated within a weather-sealed assembly that prevents swaying in the wind, a nod to the long history of resilience in these crafts.
The pavilion features performance spaces for traditional dance and craft in the area between the structural core and the façade. This creates a multilayered depth and fosters interaction between the pavilion and its surroundings. The interior exhibition space is conceived as a large-span box structure using CLT (Cross-Laminated Timber) panels and tension rods. Given the extended duration required for construction and dismantling relative to the brief exhibition period, scaffolding was deliberately incorporated between the CLT timber frame and the façade structure repurposed as an integral element of the architectural system.
The pavilion incorporates handcrafted pieces from all 18 regions of the Philippines, symbolizing unity through diversity. The architecture stands as a testament to the future of handcraft, emphasizing its significance in an evolving digital landscape.
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