T(h)UN.
A Shadow Line Pavilion.

T(h)UN is the design of a shadow line articulated through a thin wooden structure. Conceived as lightweight landscape furniture, the pavilion is designed to host moments of open-air social life and collective presence. The project was installed at EXPO 2015 in Milan.

The pavilion was conceived as an “architectural portrait” of the valley shaped by the river flowing into Lake Thun, from which the Alpine city of Thun takes its name. This landscape is characterized by the distinctive pyramidal form of Mount Niesen, a landmark of the Bernese Prealps. At noon, the mountain projects an almost perfect triangular shadow onto the plain below.

T(h)UN translates this phenomenon into a constructed shadow line. The sheathing of the pavilion traces a silhouette that echoes the mountain’s profile, using shadow as a material to measure the scale difference between the monumental landscape and the human body.

The project was first presented as a prototype at Art Container, a biennial contemporary art event where artworks are exhibited inside shipping containers distributed across the town and landscape of Steffisburg, west of Thun. Positioned at the end of the exhibition path, the pavilion functioned as a meeting point in the open fields, combining perception, orientation, and social use.

Expose - The project exposes landscape as a perceptual and temporal condition, translating a natural shadow phenomenon into an architectural and spatial register.

Activate - T(h)UN activates social interaction through a minimal intervention, using shade and form to create a shared place for gathering and encounter within an open landscape.