Aichermagazin, Isny
2021–2022
A small exhibition pavilion is placed temporary in the Kurpark, a green public space just outside the historical city walls of Isny, Germany. It showcased the corporate design for the city done by Otl Aicher based on his image about a “city in black and white” (“Stadt in Schwarz und Weiß”).
Temporary means reversible, it means being present for a given time, as a guest. Although the existing platform graciously provides a support and a foundation, the new building places itself offset and turned in relation to it. It seeks a dialogue as a priority, thus expressing independence. The architecture is reduced, it is a spatial sequence, it is wood, it is black. A single, central room is enclosed by a pergola, a layer between floor and ceiling, held by slender supports and slightly detached from the terrain. A ramp stretches towards the path, it introduces, it invites: whoever may follow, wanders around and circulates. The pergola frames the visual field with black, guiding the gaze. It shows nature and the city, it is a place for strolling, for lingering, for stories. Entering the centre ultimately changes the focus. Concentrating on space and exhibition, one finds Aicher as a designer and a person, between nettles and a large opening that frames the sky.
Exhibition and architecture change based on the light in which they are experienced. In the twilight, in the sunshine and in the rain: they are ever-changing and always open. There is no entrance, no door, no light, no roof. For half a year, for everyone.
