World Fair: The Latest Architecture and News

Studio Ghibli and its co-founder Hayao Miyazaki have become household names in the West, thanks to their impressive body of work, which includes over 10 feature films, 2 Oscars, and more than 100 awards worldwide. Films such as "Spirited Away" and "Howl's Moving Castle" showcase their mastery of world-building, story telling and compelling visuals which have earned them global acclaim. This has created a devoted fan base that previously only had the Studio Ghibli Museum in Tokyo to experience the films in real life. As the studio's popularity and movie portfolio grew, it became inevitable for them to expand into a larger space. That is why November 2022 marked the beginning of a new phase as the Ghibli Park opened its gates in Nagoya, Japan.

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With 3 months to go until the opening of Expo 2020 Dubai, on October 1st, the organizing committee has released updated images highlighting ready and completed pavilions. With officially 191 participating nations, the expo is seeking to “explore the power of connections in shaping our world”. Showcasing architecture, culture, and inspiring innovations, the world expo has been, for the past 170 years, the leading platform to introduce great inventions and architectural revolutions, most of which shaped the world we live in today.

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A Studio Ghibli Theme Park is Coming to Japan in 2022. New images released by Studio Ghibli and Aichi Prefecture showcase the park themed around the Japanese animation film studio, best known for its anime feature films. Located on a 200-hectare area of land previously used to host the 2005 World’s Fair, the park seeks to “inherit the philosophy of the World Expo to the next generation,” with an emphasis placed on leisure, walking, and history.

Philip Johnson’s “iconic” New York State Pavilion has been listed as a “National Treasure” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This designation, which was announced today at the 1964-65 World’s Fair’s 50th anniversary celebration in Queens, declares the pavilion a “historically, culturally and architecturally important site” and will help raise awareness and funding for its preservation. It is now one of just 44 national sites bearing this recognition.

“In the last 50 years, Flushing Meadows Corona Park has grown from the site of the World’s Fair to the home of the World’s Park,” said Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski. “As we celebrate this anniversary, it is just as important that we look to the next 50 years and plan for the Park’s future. I would like to thank the National Trust for Historic Preservation for honoring the New York State Pavilion as a ‘National Treasure’. This designation will highlight the importance of the Pavilion as a national icon, and help us to continue the conversation about how it can best serve Queens’ residents.”

Since 1851, World Fairs have offered glimpses into specific moments in time - giving us insight into what was once innovative, high-tech, and down-right radical. But the structures, the icons of each Fair, don't always stand the test of time - no matter their architectural pedigree. In Flushing Meadows Park, New York, for example, Modernist icon Philip Johnson's 1964 New York State Pavilion now stands neglected, overgrown in ivy. Mies van der Rohe's German Pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona Expo was promptly demolished (although eventually reconstructed).

On the other hand, the Eiffel Tower, although considered "vulgar" in its day (1889), was maintained because its height made it well-suited for emitting radio signals; it's now Paris' most important tourist attraction.

The fate of World Fair Structures is the theme of New York-based photographer, Jade Doskow, who has already shot 19 former World’s Fair sites. Take a peek at Doskow's images and find out how World Fair structures have fared, some better than others, after the break...

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