The German architecture firm Modulorbeat beat created the temporary pavilion ‘Switch+’ for the ‘2007 Skulptur Projekte Münster‘. The structure was erected outside the city’s archaeological museum for the special exhibition. Its perforated metal design was created in response to the ‘Silberne Frequenz’ light installation by Otto Piene on the neighboring building.

Inside the building served as an information pavilion, book shop and café. At 12m high the building was constructed suing steel girders on a concrete base clad in the gold-tinged copper alloy, which was perforated to allow light to enter in. Part of the pavilion was movable to ‘switch’ the flow of pedestrians within the immediate environment.

From Modulorbeat:

‘For ‘Skulptur Projekte Münster 07′, a temporary structure has been created for the plaza in front of the former Westphalian Museum of Archeology at Rothenburg 30.

Designed by the Münster-based architecture firm Modulorbeat, an approximately twelve-meter-tall pavilion called switch+ offers a central location for services related to the exhibition, including an information point, catalogue sales, rentals of the multimedia tour system, and a specialty bookshop.

The structure has produced an entirely new environment between the existing building at the corner of ‘An der Rothenburg’ and ‘Pferdegasse’. What previously was an open and unused space has become an ideal meeting place. To enliven the plaza yet further, a café has been opened up in the foyer of the ‘Skulptur Projekte’ office, with outdoor seating extending to parts of the plaza and pavilion.

Situated in the area leading up to the office entrance, the pavilion forms what one could call an ‘urban switch’: part of the pavilion is moveable and can be used to shift the flow of pedestrians on the plaza – and thus alter their use and perception of public space.

For the pavilion’s outer shell, Modulorbeat architects Jan Kampshoff and Marc Günnewig chose a gold-colored casing made of perforated copper sheets. The pavilion alludes in many ways to its immediate surroundings. The golden outer shell is a response to Otto Piene’s ‘Silberne Frequenz’ (‘Silver Frequency’), a relief on the façade of the LWL-State Museum of Art and Cultural History.

Another source of inspiration was the golden lettering that designer Martin Schmidl developed as a trademark for ‘Skulptur Projekte Münster 07′, and which can also be seen on museum façade.’

More pictures: www.modulorbeat.de.