The videos and resources in this toolkit can help you to deepen and enhance Expo pavilions for:
Global gathering with a focus on how to include many voices and perspectives in exhibits,
Immersive experiences that offer something for all the senses, and
Engaging activities for visitors in your pavilion.
The tools in this toolkit are meant to complement–not replace–a full exhibit and pavilion design process. Throughout, you will find inspiring examples from Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai and links to more resources and tools. This toolkit and my research are based on scholarship and practices from science centers and museums, and the field of futuring. From the earliest Expos in the 19th century, museums and Expos shared collections, exhibits, buildings, and methods. In the 175 years since the first Expo, museums and Expos became separated. This toolkit helps to re-build those bridges, sharing ideas and practices from museums and futuring work back to Expos, and the global scale and excitement of Expos back to the museum and futuring fields.
Select from these design worksheets or download the entire packet. All files are fillable pdf documents.
Who participates in the design process? One of the most important parts of the design process is who joins in. What role do decision-makers, sponsors, creative teams, communications, pavilion staff, innovators, scientists, teachers, student groups, and communities have?
Pavilion Goals. Find commonalities in the goals for visitors, the Expo host and the BIE, decision-makers in your country, sponsors, and communities.
Content Ideas: What stories will you tell in the pavilion? First put everything down, then you can sort them into must-haves, possibilities, and new ideas. Even take some time to think about things you would never do - this can help you clarify what's important and widen your imagination.
Content Ideas Summary
Methods: How will visitors experience the stories? After you have a list of ideas, consider how you will tell those stories, and what kinds of exhibit techniques you could use. Can you include more senses like touch, smell, or taste? Will you use screens, objects, models, sounds, games, music or more? Finally, consider what resources you need to tell those stories. Remember that sometimes low-tech options can be both more affordable, and also more memorable.
Design Ideas Summary: Bring it all together
All Design Worksheets (one pdf)
Begin by reflecting on the kinds of exhibits your country's pavilion has included at past Expos. The reflection includes the stories you've told: including the variety of people, life, land, sea, art, and technology; past, present, and futures; and the ways you've told those stories and invited participation. You can use the worksheets in the toolkit to reflect on the stories you've told and how you've told them, and then bring all of this to your design process.
Select from these worksheets or download the entire packet. All files are fill-able pdf documents.
What kinds of stories have you told?
Immersive Experiences: How have you told those stories?
Engaging Activities: What have visitors done in your pavilion?
All Reflection Worksheets (one pdf)
Who is this toolkit for?
Whether this is your first time designing a pavilion for an Expo, or you've done this a half dozen times, or even if you work for a design firm that creates exhibits for many different kinds of venues, this toolkit is for you.
If this is your first time designing a pavilion for an Expo, this toolkit can help guide you to invite stakeholders and communities to a collaborative design process, and to bring their voices to the global gathering through immersive and engaging exhibits.
If you've done this many times before, this toolkit offers ideas and options to help you deepen your storytelling, connect with visitors by sharing many voices from your country, and to make the experiences in your pavilion even more immersive and engaging.
If you work for a design firm that creates exhibits for many different kinds of venues, you may find some of the examples, ideas, and worksheets useful to integrate with your own design processes.