Expo 2025 Osaka honored 45 standout pavilions, including Lina Ghotmeh Architecture’s award-winning Bahrain Pavilion, for excellence in design, sustainability, and innovation.
About a month after Expo 2025 Osaka concluded, the innovative designs and constructions showcased at the world’s fair continue to leave a lasting impact. Among the standout projects, the Bahrain Pavilion, crafted by Lina Ghotmeh Architecture, captured significant attention this year by receiving dual accolades. It was, however, just one of many distinguished projects honored during the event. Across the awards ceremony on the second-to-last night of the Expo, 45 awards were presented from a pool of entries representing 165 countries.
The Official Participant Awards recognize excellence across several categories, including Architecture and Landscape (exclusive to self-built pavilions), External Design (for module-based pavilions), Exhibition Design, Theme Development, and Sustainability. A panel of nine international experts evaluated each national and thematic pavilion in two separate assessment sessions held in May and October 2025, selecting the winners based on criteria such as design innovation, functionality, and environmental integration. Below is an overview of all 45 pavilions honored in the five award categories.
Expo 2025’s Master Plan and Design Guidelines categorize official participant pavilions into three main types. Type A pavilions, known as self-built, are constructed on plots equipped with basic utility infrastructure supplied by the organisers. Participants handle the design, construction, installation, and eventual dismantling and restoration of their plots. The Architecture and Landscape Awards focused on Type A pavilions that exhibited exceptional harmony between architectural form, spatial composition, and their surrounding environments.
In the Self-Built Type A category for larger pavilions (over 1,500 m²), the Saudi Arabia Pavilion, designed by Foster + Partners, earned the Gold Award. The Silver went to the Spanish Pavilion, a collaboration between ENORME Studio, Smart and Green Design, and EXTUDIO, while the Bronze was awarded to the United Arab Emirates Pavilion, created by the interdisciplinary Earth to Ether Collective. For smaller Type A pavilions (under 1,500 m²), the Bahrain Pavilion by Lina Ghotmeh Architecture received the Gold Award, with the Czechia Pavilion by Apropos Architects taking Silver, and the Switzerland Pavilion by Manuel Herz Architects securing Bronze.
