A rendering of the USA Pavilion designed by Trahan Architects of New Orleans for the Expo 2025 in Japan. Architect Victor “Trey” Trahan, III was in his early 20s when the Louisiana World Exposition . And, like a lot of young people at the time, he has fond memories of the fair, which was a financial disaster for investors but delighted locals with its Wonderwall, German beer garden, Treasures of the Vatican exhibit and river-spanning gondola.
Victor "Trey" Trahan III of Trahan Architects Forty years later, Trahan is playing a very different role in the World’s Fair that opens in Osaka, Japan, next year: His New Orleans-based firm, Trahan Architects, is designing the USA Pavilion, one of the prominent architectural attractions of the exposition. It’s an impressive feather in the cap of the 30-year-old firm, which is based in New Orleans and also has a New York office. More than 28 million people are expected to visit Expo 2025 during its six-month run from April to October, and the eyes of architectural world will be focused on the various country pavilions and firms that designed them.
“It’s very significant,” said Trahan. “More than 130 countries are represented at the Expo and each country works to hire the best architects in their country because you obviously want your pavilion to represent your country in its finest, most beautiful way.” Trahan Architects was tapped to design the USA Pavilion by the U.
S. State Department after a monthslong search proces.
