We are honoured and pleased to participate: AGC Flat Glass Czech is a partner of EXPO 2025 in Osaka
AGC Flat Glass Czech produced and supplied the glazing for the façade of the Czech National Pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan.
More information can be found in the press release issued by the Office of the Commissioner General below or on the following website www.expo2025czechia.com.
AGC, the industrial giant among Czech glassworks, delivered over 55 tonnes of glass to the façade of the Czech National Pavilion. Now it becomes a partner of the Czech participation.
The Teplice glassworks AGC Flat Glass Czech, also known for projects such as Prague's Masaryčka, PORT7, Bořislavka, AFI Karlín, V Tower, Prague Main Railway Station or Václav Havel Airport Prague, has enriched the Czech National Pavilion at EXPO 2025 in Osaka, Japan, with an artistic glass façade. In collaboration with Kolektiv Ateliers and the façade company Wieden, the company created an original outdoor glass envelope that is an iconic landmark of the Czech pavilion. AGC sees the project as a unique opportunity to demonstrate the power of innovation, respect for tradition and a vision of a sustainable future - values that fully coincide with the mission of the Czech participation at EXPO 2025.
AGC produced and supplied 332 glass panels in the form of laminated safety patterned thermally treated glass with an artistic design for the façade of the five-storey wooden building. "In total, we used almost 3,500 m2 of glass for the façade, weighing 55.8 t. Each glass panel, with a total thickness of 25 mm, consists of three glass panes laminated together with two PVB safety films (ed. note: polyvinyl butyral film, a safety interlayer that increases the durability of the panels): two panes are made of Planibel Clearlite and one pane is made of Imagin Gothic patterned glass. The artistic design is on one outer pane of clear glass as well as on the inner patterned glass. We used clear glass from the Řetenice plant and patterned glass from the Barevka plant. And since this February, the Barevka plant can boast one of the most modern and environmentally friendly glass furnaces in the world," says Petr Sytař, director of the AGC Processing Teplice plant where the glazing of the Czech pavilion was processed.
“The Japanese have admired Czech glass and our ability to work with it for generations. AGC is constantly innovating its glass products and adding new value to glass. That's exactly what we want to show in Japan - we can respect tradition, but at the same time we are always moving forward, and AGC is a great example of that. The façade of our pavilion has been a source of admiration since the first visualizations, and it is even more impressive in person, as confirmed by the Japanese journalists we invited to the pavilion for the first time when the pavilion was completed in January 2025. In addition, AGC places great emphasis on the environment and sustainability. It holds the prestigious ‘Cradle to Cradle Certified®’ certification (the certification identifies products designed with maximum sustainability in mind - from eco-friendly production and recyclability to reduced environmental impact throughout the product life cycle, ed.) for many of its products and is actively expanding its range of products with a reduced carbon footprint. Its contribution in this respect is of global importance, and it is precisely such values that the Czech participation at EXPO 2025 represents and supports," says Ondřej Soška, Commissioner General of the Czech participation at EXPO 2025.
AGC Flat Glass Czech is committed to the AGC Group's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30 % in 2030 and producing zero-carbon glass by 2050. An important step on the road to decarbonising the flat glass industry is the VOLTA research and development project, co-funded by the European Union Innovation Fund. „The VOLTA project is a pilot design of a medium-sized hybrid glass furnace for the production of flat glass. In collaboration with Saint-Gobain, we have developed a design for a breakthrough pilot flat glass melting furnace that significantly reduce direct CO2 emissions. As part of this project, we renovated the patterned glass production line at our Barevka plant in Dubí near Teplice into a high-performance, state-of-the-art line that is 50 % electrified and 50 % powered by a combination of oxygen and gas, while also focusing on using a high proportion of recycled materials. We started operation of the new furnace in February 2025," explains Jiří Pilný, Barevka plant director. The VOLTA project is a milestone in the development of glass production as a traditional Czech craft, but in this case with a global contribution to the decarbonisation of the flat glass industry.
„We see the Osaka World Expo as an event that brings together innovations and breakthrough technologies from around the world, and since the strategic goal of the show is to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals, EXPO 2025 is a unique platform for us to introduce and communicate AGC Low Carbon Glass and the unique VOLTA project. And if we add to this sustainable approach the façade of the Czech pavilion made of our glass and the fact that AGC (Asahi Glass Company based in Tokyo) is actually at home in Japan, we consider the support of the Czech participation and cooperation with the Commissioner General Ondrej Soska as our dear duty,“ says Marketing Communications Manager of AGC Flat Glass Czech Petra Takáčová and adds: „In the spirit of our Group‘s strategy we create the future of glass with innovative and accessible technologies and improve the daily life of people and we express our innovative approach with the motto “Your Dreams, Our Challenge”. And we are happy and proud to have met the challenge of the Office of the Commissioner General in the form of a completely original glazing of the façade of the National Pavilion. Becoming a supplier and partner of the Czech participation at EXPO 2025 is an exceptional opportunity for us and the chance to represent the Czech Republic and the traditional glass craft is a great honour.“
About AGC
Teplice glassworks AGC Flat Glass Czech a. s., a member of the AGC Group, is the largest manufacturer of flat glass and its applications in Central and Eastern Europe with more than 130 years of tradition. It is the Central European hub of AGC Glass Europe, based in Belgium, which develops, manufactures, processes and supplies flat glass for the construction (exterior and interior applications), automotive (automotive glass) and specialty industries (transportation, solar systems and high-tech), and is a member of the global AGC Group (Asahi Glass Company), the world's largest flat glass manufacturer, based in Tokyo.
The glassworks offers a wide range of traditional and innovative premium quality products such as low-carbon glass, insulating double and triple glazing, insulating vacuum glass, safety and fire protection glass, electromagnetic wave shielding glass, mirrors, anti-reflective glass, painted, patterned, frosted glass and many more. They are suitable for all building projects, whether for use in windows, on the facades of commercial buildings or in the interior of a family home or office building.
AGC Flat Glass Czech operates five production plants in the Czech Republic, including three float glass production lines with a daily capacity of 1,350 tonnes, a network of processing plants in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, distribution centres in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and agencies in Central Europe.
About the Czech pavilion at EXPO 2025
In December 2022, after more than twenty years, the Office of the Commissioner General announced an open anonymous architectural competition for the design of the national pavilion for EXPO 2025.38 teams entered the competition, from which an expert jury headed by the world-renowned architect Eva Jiřičná selected the winning design in the shape of a glass spiral by Apropos Architects in March 2023. The supporting structure of the building is made of modern wooden panels, while the façade is made of art glass, which has a centuries-old tradition in the Czech Republic. The national pavilion will offer a worthy backdrop for the Czech participation in EXPO 2025, which will be held from April to October 2025 on the artificial island of Yumeshima in the Gulf of Osaka. The pavilion includes a permanent exhibition, a multifunctional auditorium, facilities for business meetings, a restaurant, a CTP lounge and a relaxation area in front of the pavilion with a view of the sea. The pavilion was successfully completed in early April 2025 and is the largest wooden building of its kind without a metal support structure in Japan.
About the Czech participation at EXPO 2025
The Czech Republic as an independent state will participate in the EXPO World Exhibition for the sixth time. Ondřej Soška, who won the tender of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with his concept and theme ‘Talent and Creativity for Life’, will be the General Commissioner from September 2022. In Osaka, the Czech Republic will present not only what the Japanese know very well and have long admired, such as Czech glass and classical music, but also Czech innovations, nanotechnologies, promising start-ups and regional talent.
For more information, visit the Czech participation at EXPO 2025 website and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
The Office of the Commissioner General is part of the Czech Centres network from January 2023.
Contact for media
Jana Kohoutová
Ředitelka komunikace & mluvčí
jana.kohoutova@expo2025czechia.com
+420 720 965 969
Visualization and photos: © Office of the Commissioner General, Czech Centers
