After the Expo, the BLUE OCEAN DOME Heads to Bangkok and Metz

The BLUE OCEAN DOME, exhibited at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, will be relocated abroad. Domes A and B will move to Asiatique The Riverfront Destination in Bangkok, Thailand, and Dome C will move to the Centre Pompidou-Metz in Metz, France.

The BLUE OCEAN DOME was brought to the Expo by the nonprofit ZERI JAPAN, with support from SARAYA and its Blue Ocean Projects. It was built around ocean challenges the world increasingly faces, such as marine plastic pollution, the sustainable use of marine resources, and the link between the ocean and climate change. Architect Shigeru Ban (Shigeru Ban Architects) served as architectural producer, and designer Kenya Hara (Nippon Design Center) served as general producer.

Ocean problems are too big for any one company to solve. They need companies, organizations, research institutions, and governments to bring their own knowledge, technology, and experience to the same table. That is why SARAYA participated in the BLUE OCEAN DOME, sharing a space beyond the limits of any single company, where many businesses, organizations, and researchers could speak up about the ocean together and connect with one another.

Each of the pavilion’s three domes used a different structural material: bamboo for Dome A, CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic, a strong and lightweight composite) for Dome B, and paper tubes for Dome C. Dome A, themed “Circulation,” used art pieces to show water changing form as it travels around the planet. Dome B, themed “Ocean,” let visitors experience the current state of the marine environment through footage on a high-definition LED screen. Dome C, themed “Wisdom,” gave companies and organizations working on ocean issues a place to share their work. With visitors arriving from around the world, the pavilion became a starting point for conversations about the future of the ocean. It also built a network that has led to new partnerships and co-creation.

Asiatique The Riverfront Destination

Centre Pompidou-Metz

In Bangkok, Domes A and B will join Asiatique The Riverfront, a large riverside entertainment destination that brings shopping, dining, sightseeing, and activities together on one site. There, the domes will be used as an event space for Avatar: Guardians of Eywa, an immersive attraction based on the Avatar film series, scheduled to officially open in early 2027.

Dome C will find its new home at the Centre Pompidou-Metz, a contemporary art museum known for its distinctive roof shaped like a traditional woven hat. The museum was itself co-designed by Shigeru Ban and French architect Jean de Gastines, and it is built with ecology in mind, for example by reusing collected rainwater in its garden. Dome C is scheduled to open as the museum’s nine-month Shigeru Ban exhibition, which begins in December 2026, comes to a close. It will then serve as a space for the art school the museum runs for middle school students.

The message of reviving the ocean that took shape at the Expo, along with the connections it created, will now carry on beyond the Expo grounds and out into the world. With the BLUE OCEAN DOME as one starting point, SARAYA will continue to work with companies, organizations, research institutions, and local governments in Japan and around the world to expand its Blue Ocean Projects.

About SARAYA’s Blue Ocean Projects

SARAYA launched its Blue Ocean Projects in 2022 to help solve a set of closely connected ocean challenges, including marine plastic waste, overfishing, and climate change.

As one of these projects, SARAYA joined the BLUE OCEAN DOME at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai as a pavilion partner. The partnership had three themes: preventing marine plastic pollution, the sustainable development of ocean-based industries, and building understanding of the ocean and climate change. Through them, the pavilion helped visitors learn more about the ocean and gave people of many backgrounds a reason to think about its future.

Drawing on the network built through the BLUE OCEAN DOME and the connections made at the Expo, SARAYA will keep taking concrete action on ocean issues through its business. Learn more about the Blue Ocean Projects and the BLUE OCEAN DOME.