JUNGFRAU PAVILION.
Temporary Pavilion, Steffisburg, Switzerland

The Jungfrau Pavilion is conceived as an architectural contribution to the iconographic tradition of the Jungfrau, initiated by Paul Klee, Arnold Böcklin, and Ferdinand Hodler, and carried forward by many artists over time. As is characteristic of this lineage, the pavilion’s form is inspired by the surrounding alpine panorama.

Designed for the Bernese community of Steffisburg, the pavilion was realized as part of the triennial festival Art Container and conceived to host a wide range of open-air cultural events. With approximately 250 square meters of covered surface and a height of 9 meters, the structure was developed in close collaboration with local authorities, from fundraising to technical engineering and construction.

Conceived as a theatrical device, the pavilion presents itself as a secular cathedral set within rapeseed fields. It hosts daily “liturgies” such as concerts, public talks, gastronomic events, and leisure activities, celebrating the sublimeness of the Bernese alpine landscape and territory.

The pavilion incorporates ad-hoc furniture produced using concrete casting boards, chosen to resonate chromatically with the surrounding yellow rapeseed fields. The wooden roof structure is based on an open-truss system that allows the suspension of a lightweight membrane. This configuration inverts load forces and optimizes the structural performance of the timber construction.

Designed as a temporary structure, the Jungfrau Pavilion can be efficiently dismantled and reconstructed in different contexts, adapting to a variety of open-air cultural programs.

Expose - The pavilion exposes a long-standing iconographic tradition by translating it into an inhabitable architectural form, making cultural memory spatially and publicly accessible.

Activate - It activates the territory and the local community by functioning as a catalyst for cultural events, collective gatherings, and everyday use during the festival period.

Displace - The project displaces the Jungfrau from a purely representational or pictorial subject into an operative architectural scale, shifting an icon from image to spatial device.