Osaka 1970 World Exposition

Progress and Harmony for Mankind

Anthony Shea, Emilia Schoen, Jonathan Martens, Kelly Adams

February 18, 2021

Introduction

The world exposition of 1970 was held in Osaka, Japan. In the years preceding Expo ‘70, there were numerous significant historical events. This included the Vietnam War, World War II, and massive scientific and technological developments. World War II specifically played a role in the importance of the exposition being held in Osaka. Post-war Japan faced extreme damage and the daunting task of rebuilding. During the war, huge sections of Osaka were destroyed by American bomb raids. Post-war planning was undeniably a challenge so the recovery of the city was truly remarkable. Holding this fair revealed the revitalization of Osaka as a metropolis and a technologically advanced city. With the rest of the world as an audience, this showcase of Japanese technology under the theme of “Progress and Harmony for Mankind” was indicative of the advancements being made across the world.

Throughout the planning of the Expo ‘70, many different influences were taken into account. Post-war Japanese architecture was heavily influenced by the metabolism style. This style focused around constructing buildings and cities as if they were living organisms. Building the exposition in this style left a “spine” for a future city, and we can still see an Expo ‘70 commemorative park standing today.

Event Design

The design of the Osaka 1970 expo was heavily influenced by post-war Japanese architecture trends. The most prevalent trend that can be seen on display at the fair would be the style of metabolism. Buildings were designed in this style between the late 1950s and late 1970s. The name is representative of the aim, which was to construct buildings and cities as if they were living organisms. Kenzo Tange, Uzo Nishiyama, and other architects who designed the Osaka expo were known for having metabolism as an influence. The grounds of the expo were supposed to be viewed as living with a “spine” or remaining structure that could serve as the foundations for a future city. Along with metabolism, technological advancements, space travel, domes, inflatables, and other experiments happening in Japan in the 1960s were themes for this exposition. The Expo, constructed between 1965-1970, was built during a tumultuous period in world history. The varied experiences and perspectives all came together at this expo under the theme of “Progress and Harmony for Mankind.”

The expo was designed along a linear axis known as the Symbol Zone. It ran from north to south and was separated by the Main Gate Plaza. The northern part of the Symbol Zone had Tange’s Festival Plaza, the pavilion in this plaza was from 76 different countries, the United States included, and a European City. Some notable pavilions would be the Canadian Pavilion, which showcased a few different Canadian movies. Another would be the USSR pavilion, the tallest of them all, which was designed with red and white. The American pavilion included a large, air-supported dome It was in this plaza that multiple nations were showcasing the technological innovations and experiments from all over the world. The southern part of the Symbol Zone had the expo club and Kikutake’s expo tower and the south gate.

Transportation

Map of Transportation for Expo '70

Expo 70 was home to many innovations, including innovations in transportation. People from all over the world were attending this expo, meaning that many different methods of travel were used. Planes were certainly used to transport attendees to this island. Within Japan, and more specifically within the exposition, there were many different methods as well. Osaka has currently eight different lines for the metro. These lines travel throughout the entire city, and at least five of them had been built by 1970. This would indicate that people within the city were able to transport to the grounds of the exposition. Along with public transportation, there was a parking lot with space for 20,000 cars, meaning that many people would drive there. Within the fair, there were multiple different options including electric jitneys, moving walks, and the monorail. A jitney is a small bus or vehicle that will transport passengers at a low fare and is typically found in cities. The fair apparently had made electric ones that were on display during the expo.

Despite the moving walks and the electric jitneys, the most astonishing transportation innovation was the monorail. The exposition was taking place across a huge plot of land, approximately 815 acres. This massive area would take a very long time to travel by foot. This indicated a need for efficient transit within the grounds. The expo unveiled the Takaido Shinkansen or the bullet train line. This line was built to travel all throughout the exposition and it was often circulating high above the ground. This was a remarkable feature at this expo and still runs today, offering access to expo city. Notably, this monorail is connected to the airport, which means then and now it has been providing transportation to and from the airport for visitors from overseas. Before 2005, Osaka’s monorail was the longest in the world.

EXPO '70 - Monorail path

Cultural Contexts

Cold War

The most glaring event that was unfolding on the world stage by 1970 was the Cold War. This was a conflict that lasted from after World War 2 until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, between the United States and the USSR based on each other’s mutual fear of the other’s global expansion and domination. But the cold war was and is still viewed by many as a war of ideologies, with America fighting for Capitalism and the Soviet Union fighting for Communism. This is illustrated by the very methods that each country used which gave this conflict its name. This war was ‘cold’ because rather than directly confronting each other on the field of battle, the US and the USSR would fight each other through proxy wars. Whenever there was contention in a particular country between communists and anticommunists, each of the superpowers would indirectly (or in some cases, like Vietnam, directly) assist one side.

Space Race

But what is important about this in relation to the 1970 Osaka World’s Fair is that the Cold War was not always fought on the battlefield. It was also a constant barrage of retaliatory shows of power between the two states. The Space Race is a prime example of this non-violent competition. The Russians launched Sputnik, the first man-made satellite in space; the US launched their satellite Explorer I in response. Soviet Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space; Alan Shepard soon after became the first American in space. But in the year before the World’s Fair, the US finally laid claim to a first: the first man on the moon. And as expected, America decided to take advantage of this event to boast of their achievement, displaying lunar rocks from their voyage. Of course, the Soviets were there to flaunt their progress as well, showing much space-related technology. Pictured are the Soviet and US pavilions, respectively.

Rebuilding Japan

Surprisingly though, the main spectacle of the Fair was not the Russo-American Machismo War. No, the focus of the event was on the host country, Japan. It was not some faux pas attempt at feel-goodery that the theme of this World’s Fair was “Progress and Harmony for Mankind”. The Japanese chose this theme because they truly felt it all around them. Most of the major cities had been reduced to rubble by Allied bombing campaigns in WW2. Osaka, which had become a hub of industry by the early 20th century, was one of those cities. But after the US had helped with reconstruction after the war, Japan experienced momentous economic growth from the 50s to the 70s, becoming one of the top economies in the world through their willingness to adapt foreign technologies for their own purposes. And they deservedly showed off their success by hosting a World’s Fair in one of the many cities that was practically a scrap heap just 25 years prior. Pictured is the Tower of the Sun, a structure that Japan built as the symbol of the Expo.

Construction

Given that the Osaka Expo was largely a temporary fixture, the building on site could be either demolished at close or deconstructed and recycled into other projects. Pavilions surrounding the main plaza were constructed mostly by individual countries, each with their own design choices, but we will choose to highlight two of the more well-known structures. The Festival Plaza and US Pavilion both illustrate advances in civil engineering to create highly cost effective yet functional and awe-inspiring spaces. It is important to highlight that these were being built at the beginning of the computing era and with the full capabilities of precision manufacturing.

Festival Plaza

The Festival Plaza was the centerpiece of the Expo grounds and as such served as a hub of movement and congregation. With this functional purpose in mind, Nishiyama Uzo proposed the initial design of a space frame structure consisting of a 300 x 100 meter double grid steel tube frame roof/platform elevated 37.7m off the ground by six space frame pillars. The final design was carried out by Kenzo Tange and Yoshikatsu Tsuboi and used the open nature of space frame structures to create a large and easily traversable space beneath the platform.

Visitors were then able to ascend through the frame of the pillars along stairwells and into the space between the double grid of the roof where exhibits were housed. This vision was possible given the cost/strength ratio of the steel tubing used for the struts of the frame as well as the ball joints connecting those struts together. Prefabrication of these parts allowed for ease of construction as well as deconstruction, each piece able to be removed as easily as it was put in place.

US Pavilion

The US Pavilion was a marvel in its own right in the design of pneumatic structures. A super elliptical crater was carved into the ground on top of which a roof was constructed held up by a balance of internal air pressure and tension. Designed by architects Davis, Brody, Chermayeff, Geismar, and de Harak Associates and built by David Geiger, the roof had several challenges to compete with. The roof was covered with a 83.5 x 140 meter glass-fiber woven fabric coated on both sides with vinyl, the fabric being a design based directly off advances in the US space program. This fabric was fitted over a diagonal lattice of intersecting cables spanning the crater and connected by cable ties to a concrete compression ring resting on top of the perimeter of the crater. The structure design was tested at scale in wind tunnels and with the help of recent computing advances in order to withstand possible 150 mph typhoon winds.

Construction was straightforward as the cables were first connected at the ring and each other, chosen in this pattern for an overall cable savings of 33%. Sections of fabric with fitted skirts were then laid across and sewn to the underlying cables and heat molded together to create an air and watertight roof. Minimal pressure above atmospheric pressure was then needed within to inflate the roof, given its shape by the balanced tension of the cables, and was made easier due to the lightweight fabric. Coming in at $4.50 per square foot of design made this incredibly successful and, once the expo was finished, the roof was able to be salvaged and the excavated crater refilled.

Impacts and Conclusion

The Osaka world fair presented a forward-thinking mindset that would influence how the people of Osaka and the rest of the world thought. This world fair wanted to explore the balance between progress and harmony while also incorporating cultural diversity. Harmony within this fair was obtained by allowing cultures and outside nations around the world to have a place to display their art and technology. Progress was shown in science and technology through the application of new ideas to stagnant fields, such as the process of metabolism being applied to the urban architecture shown by Kurokawa in his Takara Beautillion.

In addition to this expo's mindset, the ideas and success of post-war reconstruction and the act of rejoining the international community would live on in Osaka and Japan. National self-realization swept through Japan and brought spirits up after a rough 25 year reconstruction period, as they could finally move away from the harsh memories of World War II. The expo also marked and aided in the start of rapid economic growth that would keep the country prosperous and busy for years to come. Although beneficial for the nation and international community, individuals who attended the fair have a less fond memory of the event itself. The total attendance was over 64 million people, which led to the fair being pact most days, and individuals could not experience all that the fair had to offer. In addition to the large crowds, the event was accompanied by the heat and humidity that comes with Japanese summers.

After 182 days, the Osaka world fair wrapped up, and the land was repurposed into a large public park meant to be enjoyed by the people of Osaka and to capture the legacy of this fair in a physical form. When the expo finished, many of the pavilions and artworks were taken down and brought home, but some stayed up and were designated to live in this new park. Along with these preserved pavilions and artworks, the park planted 5,000 cherry blossom trees and grew sizable gardens in the following years. In recent years more attractions have been added to the Expo park, such as the National Museum of Ethnology, Japan Folk Crafts Museum, and the Expocity shopping mall. Themes and ideas such as displaying cultural pieces of other nations in a foreign country, post-war recovery, and a growing and prosperous economy live on through the preserved structures and newly added features.

Present Day Osaka Expo ‘70 Park

Across the 110 pavilions, state-of-the-art technology and architecture were displayed, allowing the spectators to take a glimpse into the future. The 77 nations that came got the chance to show the people what awaits them in the future, showcasing grand objects such as the moon rock while also showing off everyday items such as the TV phone or canned coffee. Giving the people a glimpse of what their lives might look like in 5 or 10 years and how technology could improve their lives. The technology and architecture on display are how the designers envisioned an ideal future; in this fair, they were able to build what they wanted, which was "progress and harmony for mankind."

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