Landscape of opportunity

While the pavilion building becomes an abstract landscape, the Swiss landscape heads skywards where it stands on its head: visitors move about in a world above which hangs the fragrant Swiss sky of herbs, evoking images of the mountains, forests and meadows with its scent. However, it also brings to mind medicinal herbs as the basis of the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries as well as fresh alpine milk and therefore of the products made from it, such as cheese and chocolate: in short, this herbal canopy directly or indirectly brings together many aspects of Swiss culture and the Swiss economy. In the up and down of the exhibition structure and the green ceiling relief visitors are at times very close to the sky. An atmospheric closeness is created between the effect of the space and that of the landscape that addresses all of our senses.

The plants are attached to the supporting structure of the roof. Herbs in large groups and grasses of varying density achieve a variety of effects, from gentle veils to thick clouds. At first glance this waft of scent is a visual and olfactory tool that gives meaning to the space and enhances the exhibition experience. But the isolated world of this self-sufficient room is in no way without its references, nor is it inward-looking: it portrays connections and dependencies all the more pointedly – that is something also made clear by its hanging sky.