Osaka

Opening on 13th April at Expo 2025 Osaka, WonderJunkie played a key creative and cultural role, helping to weave architecture, story and placemaking together to connect audiences with the undiscovered wonders of Saudi Arabia.

With Foster + Partners and 59 Studio, WonderJunkie were partners in a competition that we won in consortium.

Located on the Yumeshima waterfront, and inspired by traditional urban structures of the Kingdom and ancient structures of AI Ula and the desert, the pavilion hosts a spatial experience that echoes the exploration of Saudi Arabian towns and cities, blending audio and visual to provide an immersive place.

We worked with our partners to embed storytelling firmly within the architectural design from the beginning, tying it into the very fabric of the building itself. The vision was for visitors to be taken on a journey of discovery, with Saudi Arabian culture and some of the country’s most innovative and exciting accomplishments on show. As part of this we helped to conceive a central courtyard and two cultural studios that put Saudi artists and their practice at the heart of the spaces. These bespoke, highly-equipped cultural studios are active spaces inhabited by artists in a series of residencies, allowing people to see the creativity of these artists and musicians first-hand. Over the 6-month Expo, work from these artists will be developed and woven into an evolving nightly show that will take place in the courtyard every evening. WonderJunkie led the sourcing and selection of curators for these two spaces, and then oversaw the process of artist programming. 

Opened 13th April 2025

Yumeshima, Osaka