A wooden musical staff for Austria at the Expo 2025 in Osaka

At the World's Fair Expo 2025 in Osaka, Austria is represented by a truly unique architectural gem. A spiralling musical staff made from wood 16.5 m tall. This impressive piece of art adorns the facade of the Austrian pavilion, representing a connection between cultural tradition and technological innovation. Inside, the ribbon transforms into a digital strip guiding visitors from the past into the future.

Composing the Future: Austria's contribution to the Expo 2025

Under the heading ""Composing the Future"" Austria showcases its innovative strength and cultural diversity at the Expo 2025. The musical staff symbolises the harmony between tradition and modernity, highlighting Austria's status as a leading research, technology and innovation location.

Focus on sustainability

The connections used removable screws instead of adhesive in combination with the renewable raw material, wood, contribute to environmental protection. Moreover, the structure was designed in such a way that it can be disassembled and reused after the Expo is over.

Stand-out design features

Concept and architectural design for Austria's Composing the Future was courtesy of Vienna-based architectural office BWM Designers & Architects which had been chosen in an EU-wide competition. Wood was not only chosen as a building material for its natural beauty and sustainability, but also due to its high load capacity at low raw density. The wooden ribbon's design follows the principle of geodetic ribbon. This special shape allows the thin individual wood lamellas to be bonded without laborious 3D milling. The lamellas receive dowels only after bending and thus form a stable, self-supporting cross-section.

The spiral is designed in such a way that it meets strict Japanese approval standards and can withstand great wind speeds (up to 270 km/h). The spiral's individual components can be fully disassembled and reassembled several times. This allows for the elements' reuse after the Expo 2025, for which ideas are currently being discussed.

A masterclass in craftsmanship

Graf-Holztechnik company was selected to execute the wooden ribbon due to its technical expertise and many decades of timber construction experience. The unique design technology was developed specifically for this project with engineering office Werkraum Ingenieure ZT-GmbH.

Mechanically graded lamellas

Roughly, 40 m³ of specially graded spruce supplied by the HASSLACHER Group were used for the wooden musical staff. To meet the mechanical specifications , the material was mechanically graded for its strength and stiffness at the planing mill of NORITEC Holzindustrie GmbH at the Sachsenburg site. In order to make the tight radii requested for the musical staff, the high-strength graded lamellas were efficiently split into approx. 8 mm and 12 mm pieces using a thin-cut saw at the HASSLACHER Group's Lainach site and delivered to the customer.