Expo '85

Takenobu Igarashi

1982

An offset lithograph poster advertising Expo ’85 in Tsukuba, Japan, in which Igarashi blends architectural drawing, typography, and color to present a playful, futuristic vision of technology and urban design meant to entice and inspire visitors.

It reads like a three‑dimensional blueprint—an aqua grid recedes while isometric, building‑like letters and modular shapes stack, overlap, and interlock with diagrammatic detail and pops of color to create a machine‑city suspended in space.

The work shows how 1980s graphic design adopted architectural axonometry and technical drawing to express technological optimism, helping forge a visual language that linked architecture, industrial design, and corporate futurism.

Palette

Art Terms

Architectural drawing Architecture Built environment Design Graphic design Lithography Poster Typography

Exhibitions

Recent Japanese Posters from the Collection

1989

Visionary Architecture

1960

Modern Exposition Architecture

1936

Integrated Building: Kitchen, Bathroom, and Storage

1945