visualisation of nothing | schweizer pavillion

•

Visualization of Nothing.
Architecture: Agirbas & Wienstroer | Design: D'art Design Gruppe | competition

Switzerland is a country that presents itself to the outside as a reserved and reticent state, which could have invented the word understatement. Rather than relying on clichés like Swiss cheese, clocks, or similar things with regard to the country’s external image, the Designers visualize its gentle reservation architectonically. Instead of showing off with a gigantic, towering structure, the concept highlights depth and introspection. The working title “Visualization of Nothing.” illustrates the idea of an invisible, but definitely experiential, Swiss pavilion. On the one hand, a simple expanse of water mirrors signifies Swiss properties of reservation and understatement. Only the Swiss flag reveals the pavilion’s identity. On the other hand, the expanse of water is the beginning of a multifaceted multimedia illustration of the true inner values of Switzerland with — literally — more depth: The design’s exhibition contents are hidden in the ground, beneath the surface. The deeper a visitor enters into the pavilion, the more the exhibition topics disconnect from the country’s cliché-like caricatures.