Expo Hall: A “Shining Hat” to Host Major Events

A Golden Hat for a Key Expo Facility

The Expo Hall hosts key events at Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai, including the opening and closing ceremonies. It is also named “Shining Hat” for an obvious reason—the brilliant golden disk that sits atop its sturdy cylindrical base. The designers sought to call to mind a parabolic antenna as a symbol of the sharing and receiving of information at the Expo this year.

The gleaming roof atop a rough cylinder presents a striking image in the Expo’s East Gate Zone. (© Nippon.com)

The weather and time of day can give the “hat” a wide variety of looks. (© Nippon.com)

Inside the hall is a circular theatrical performance area with a stage and seating for some 1,900 people. The interior is rendered mainly in white tones, with billowing cloth accents on the walls to create a comforting space for musical performances, demonstrations of Japanese traditional arts like nō and kabuki, and much more—around 100 events in all over the course of the Expo.

After dusk, the entire outer wall of the Expo Hall becomes a screen for projection-mapping shows held daily. A total of 109 presentations have been selected from submissions received from across Japan and all around the world.

At night the structure itself is a stage for projection-mapping shows. (© Nippon.com)

(Originally published in Japanese. Reporting and text by Uchiyama Ken’ichi and Nippon.com. Photographic assistance by Kuroiwa Masakazu of 96-Box. Banner photo © Nippon.com.)