e03 - pavilion, basel, switzerland, 2014

A pavilion is in its essence a small architecture.

Set apart in a landscape, somehow isolated, it holds a secret sense of quietness and delight.

A pavilion suggests temporariness and fragility.

The pavilion is a space on its own.

Experience is based on what we know as familiar, but to which we may not pay attention: the gesture of walking, sitting, listening.

We imagine a space where you can experience a day of sunshine in an interior.

Delight is in the real.

We imagine building the pavilion in the form of a tent.

From outside you first see at first a curtain of deep blue silk velvet, occupying the eyeline

The velvet tent is 8.10 meters high and varies in width between 19 and 21 meters.

There are 3 entrances to the tent, 1.30 wide and 5.50 high.

Within the tent there is smaller pavilion.

Inside, the space is high and shadowed: a blue varnished wooden floor; the ceiling and vertical surfaces in deep blue silk velvet, while light filters in from above.

The smaller pavilion is of a wooden construction covered with a fine deep blue cotton mesh.

The fabric is a soft and dark foreground. The wooden construction is sharp and precise, painted in a light lemon white.

The interior is a daylight scene with water.

After 8 or 10 steps along the ramp, there is an entrance to the wooden pavilion.

Here everything is merged in daylight, the freshness of an early morning.

A round pool of water 5.30 meters wide lays in the centre.

There are six niches, slightly set back from the walkway.

Here you can sit and take some time.