Architecture as a habitable medium

Elizabeth Diller

Richardo Scofidio

pp. 184-195

in: Georg Flachbart, Peter Weibel (eds), Disappearing architecture, Basel, Birkhäuser, 2005

Abstract

The Blur Building is an exhibition pavilion built for Swiss Expo 2002 on Lake Neuchatel in the town of Yverdon-les-Bains. It is an architecture of atmosphere. Its lightweight tensegrity structure measures 300 ft wide by 200 ft deep by 75 ft high. It streches over a total of 80,000 square feet. The primary building material is indigenous to the site, water. Water is pumped from the lake, filtered, and shot as a fine mist through a dense array of high-pressure mist nozzles. The resulting fog mass produced is a dynamic interplay of natural and man-made forces.