Isojoen Saha had the opportunity to deliver specialty timber to a Japanese customer. The timber was used as raw material for heavy glulam beam and pillar structures, which were used to build the world’s largest architectural wooden structure, The Grand Ring (Guinness World Record).
The impressive Grand Ring is the main attraction of the World Expo (Expo 2025 Osaka) held in Osaka, Japan, and serves as an international symbol of sustainable timber construction. The Grand Ring surrounds the World Expo area as a wooden ring approximately 2 km long with a diameter of nearly 700m.
– We were asked to quote for custom-sized 225 mm wide timber. We accepted the challenge! The timber was sawn, dried and carefully sorted in our production. Deliveries took place during 2023 and 2024. We were proud to see on-site what a massive structure our timber had ultimately become! Big thanks go not only to our customer but also to our forestry department, production and logistics staff who handled the deliveries to Japan on time, without problems, says Isojoen Saha CEO Esa Hakamäki.
– A couple of our Japanese customers manufactured glulam beams from our products for the Expo World Exhibition, so we decided to include a visit to the World Expo during our Japan trip. Osaka Expo 2025 met and exceeded expectations! The two-kilometer-long Grand Ring was truly an impressive sight. 20,000 m³ of glulam beams and 5,000 m³ of CLT in such a structure creates confidence in the future of timber construction, hopefully also in Finland, notes Export Manager Timo Seilo.
Finnish Wood Expertise on the World Stage
The Osaka World Expo (Expo 2025 Osaka) will be held from April 13 to October 13, 2025. The exhibition is expected to attract about 28 million visitors from around the world. The theme of the exhibition is “Designing Future Society for Our Lives.”
The Grand Ring structure serves as a symbol of the exhibition and demonstrates how wood can be a solution for sustainable future construction.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb and his wife will also visit the exhibition in June, highlighting the significance of the event for Finnish-Japanese relations.
The Grand Ring, World’s largest wooden structure:
- Diameter: 700 meters
- Ring circumference: 2 kilometers
- Height: 20 meters
- Area: 61,035.55 m²
- Main structure of the Osaka World Expo and symbol of sustainable timber construction
- Made from sustainably produced timber from various countries
- Showcases wood’s potential in large-scale construction
- Demonstrates wood’s potential in combating climate change
- Architectural masterpiece combining traditional woodworking with modern design