Kulturpavillon / Pavilion of Culture

The proposed volume for the Basel pavilion of culture preserves and respects the eight horse chestnuts (Aesculus hippocastanum) and the large plane tree (Platanus hispanica) situated in the plot assigned in the central Barfüsserplatz . The maintenance of the existing tree species, in addition to protecting the intrinsic value and the identity of the place, constitutes a valid potential for the definition of the volume itself. In particular, four of the existing trees become the focus of four opencast courtyards, inserted respectively in each of the outer corners of the Greek cross on which the plan of the indoor space is set. The courtyards, thanks also to the inclusion of some seats situated on the longest of the two sides that demarcate their area of relevance, are considered places at the service of the city, within which both the visitor that the mere passer-by are invited to carve out a moment of rest and quiet, as well as moments of social exchange.
The pavilion, with the exception of the pillars, is made wholly out of wood. The choice, initially linked to the temporary character which the building was supposed to have, becomes an opportunity to experience the potentialities of the material. More generally, the use of historical stable materials is a means of stimulating the search of new solutions, linked more to the methodological aspect that the aesthetic scope. The choice of creating a dialogue between a few basic elements, both in terms of material that in terms of chromatism, collaborates with a synthetic perception of architectural message . If for almost its totality, the wood is treated with the use of black dye, inside, the surface of the beams is coated by a thin layer of gold leaf. The light, imagined as a material of the space, filtering through the skylights, skims the golden surface of the beams and diffuses glows in all directions, giving back to the place an almost liturgical character. The will to relate the physical world of sensory experience with the abstraction of the idea is researched not only through the use of materials, but also through the choice of the static solution of the building. The decompression in the plane of the vertical structure (Pic. e) in addition to creating an extremely usable interior space, transfers the interest in the barycenter of the building, where the expressive spannung becomes highest. Here, in fact, the vision of the two large central beams , hovering in the air without being apparently supported by any element of support – sublimated by the golden game of the reflections, produces an effect of aerial suspension, in which the weight of the material seems to dissolve itself as for the absence of gravity.