Tentoonstellingspaviljoen Het Huis

In their pavilion, or ‘house’, a defined volume set into the grassy parklands of the Middelheim sculpture museum, Robbrecht & Daem have orchestrated a play on the definitions of spaces, and between inside and outside, sheltered and open, spacious and confined. As one approaches the building, perspectives fragment and reconstitute themselves – never quite definitively, but in a constantly shifting movement. Inside, if such a term makes sense for a pavilion open to the elements, the space is defined by an intricate enclosure of trelliswork screens that indicate a series of niches and rooms. Within the pavilion, the motif of the patio makes its appearance as the roof. It follows a geometry that is similar to, yet separate from, the plan, and opens up to allow views of the sky – a move that is emphasised by the planting of trees at the narrow end of the tapered spaces.

Author: Christoph Grafe. This text has been published in the Architecture Review Flanders N°11. Embedded Architecture.