The infusion pavilion

On the border between architecture and sculpture, a piece of furniture and a building, an experiment and a folly, the pavilion has historically been the site for architectural research. Deep in the leafy Museum Gardens, the Infusion Pavilion gives the opportunity to trigger new relationships between the permanence of the built environment and the transient condition of Nature. The starting point of the project is the courtyard, as the traditional shared space for gathering. Informed by the fluxes of the users and the surrounding vegetation, the space, initially enclosed and introvert, turns into a permeable one. Two opposite openings create a physical continuity between inside and outside, while the blurring skin enables a visual connection with the context, inviting passers by to explore the site. The Infusion Pavilion is a three-dimensional structure of fine white steel bars. It defines an informal and flexible space in which visitors, free to move pin-like mobile seatings, are encouraged to choose their own space for gathering, reading, and resting. Each branch of the tree-like structure is crowned by ceramic pipes, whose variety of hues capture the blooming of the surrounding greenery. Fixing Nature in a precise moment, a new form of environment has been created, where the natural and the artificial fuse.