National Pavilion at the World Expo in Japan to Showcase the Diversity of Croatia’s Climate

The Croatian pavilion is designed as an immersive environment that showcases the diversity of climates in the Republic of Croatia. The pavilion is never the same, continuously changing, and each visit provides a new experience. Each of the climate zones in the pavilion is recorded with thermal cameras that capture visitor interactions and micro-climates. Additionally, selected locations around meteorological stations are recorded with thermal cameras and monitor events in the physical space. These video feeds are paired with the calculated time difference shift between Croatia and Japan and displayed in the pavilion, on the website, and on the pavilion’s social media.

Today, a presentation for the World Expo Expo 2025 Osaka was held in Zagreb, which will take place from April 13 to October 13, 2025, under the overarching theme ‘Designing Future Society for Our Lives’. The exhibition is held on the artificial island of Yumeshima, in the city of Osaka, Japan, built specifically for the purpose of hosting the EXPO. According to the organizers’ estimates, around 28 million visitors are expected to attend the exhibition, which will feature more than 160 countries and international organizations.

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Presentation of the national pavilion of the Republic of Croatia for the World Expo Expo 2025 Osaka.
Mitsuhiro Wada, Pero Vuković, Srećko Raić, Zdenko Lucić, Zvonimir Frka-Petešić

photo Boris Ščitar

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Croatia will present a work titled ‘Croatia – climadiversity/Croatia – climadiversity‘, created by the authors: Lana Grahek, Maroje Mrduljaš, Antonio Patljak, Korina Vuković, and Pero Vuković with collaborators Petra Bigor, Yujin Jeong, and Filip Majcenić.

– The Republic of Croatia Pavilion at the World Expo Expo 2025 in Osaka represents technological innovation and uniqueness. I can proudly say that the construction has been successfully completed, according to the design of the author team and Pero Vuković from the architectural studio Arhiv, thanks to the company Enison and their excellent work on the pavilion’s construction. I also thank the State Hydrometeorological Institute for providing the data that enables the transfer of the Croatian climate to our pavilion in Japan. We expect the pavilion to attract significant attention among more than 28 million visitors. After the exhibition concludes, we plan to exhibit the pavilion in Croatia, providing visitors with a unique opportunity to experience its artistic and technological value in their own country, said Zdenko Lucić, the national commissioner of the Republic of Croatia for the World Expo Expo 2025 Osaka and state secretary in the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.

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Presentation of the national pavilion of the Republic of Croatia for the World Expo Expo 2025 Osaka.
Zvonimir Frka-Petešić

photo Boris Ščitar

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Global Innovation

The Croatian pavilion is sure to be among the most innovative at the International Exhibition in Osaka. It will be the first time that temperature from one part of the Earth will be transmitted to another, which is a kind of global innovation.

– Indeed, technology has long allowed us to transmit sound, images, or video live to the other side of the Earth. However, visitors to the Croatian pavilion will have the opportunity to experience and feel the air temperature that prevails at that moment in many locations across Croatia, from Zagreb’s Grič to Dubrovnik, through Varaždin, Pula, Slavonski Brod, Lastovo, or Sveti Jure on Biokovo. In the context of increasingly rapid climate changes, this is an interesting and original way to convey climatic conditions at a distant location. Given the limited space that the organizers have assigned to the pavilions, I believe this is an excellent use of space and represents Croatia as a country of brilliant innovators in a very original way, said Zvonimir Frka-Petešić, a member of the National Committee of the Republic of Croatia for the World Expo Expo 2025 Osaka and head of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia.

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Presentation of the national pavilion of the Republic of Croatia for the World Expo Expo 2025 Osaka.
Mitsuhiro Wada, Pero Vuković, Srećko Raić, Zdenko Lucić, Zvonimir Frka-Petešić with Enison workers.

photo Boris Ščitar

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Ten months after the start of work on the concept, the pavilion for Croatia’s participation at the EXPO exhibition in Japan is nearing completion and preparing for transport to Japan.

– From the initial considerations and ideas, numerous hours have been spent, we have met many brilliant people and hope for future collaborators, while we have tested our permanent collaborators with new tasks and ideas, resolved numerous details and challenges, learned a lot, and together created an artifact in which we hope to feel all of that and which will represent Croatia, its climatic diversity and uniqueness with dignity, said Pero Vuković, director of ARHIV architecture and urbanism.

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Presentation of the national pavilion of the Republic of Croatia for the World Expo Expo 2025 Osaka.
Zdenko Lucić, Zvonimir Frka-Petešić

photo Boris Ščitar

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– We are traveling to a land of excellence, to showcase excellence in the Republic of Croatia. We want to be recognized for the excellence of the architectural and design solution itself, as well as for the excellence of Enison’s mechanical engineers and assemblers who brought this solution to life. We want to highlight the support of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, which recognized, encouraged, and supported that excellence, said Marko Bjegović, head of development at Enison.