RESEARCH PAVILION IN THE MUSEUM GARDEN

How can architecture be imagined as something alive, temporary, and constantly changing? A new research pavilion can be experienced and explored in the museum’s green garden during the upcoming spring months.

The pavilion, Repair Pavilion, is created by CITA – the Centre for Information Technology and Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. This research pavilion aims to contribute to the development of architectural principles that evolve alongside their surroundings and can be continuously repaired and developed. The new pavilion consists of a lightweight wooden structure covered with 3D-printed, bio-based materials—so-called biopolymer composites—that form open screens. These screens are designed to respond to their environment. They change with the weather and allow moisture and organisms like moss and biofilm to take root. The pavilion’s appearance and design evolve over time, shaped by the life of the material itself, carrying traces of use, weathering, and repair as a visible part of its identity. Repair is integrated into the architecture: new layers can be applied directly, and the surfaces develop over time as part of a continuous process of design.

Bringing Research Out of the Laboratory
CITA’s aim with the placement in Designmuseum Danmark’s garden is to bring research out of the laboratory and into the everyday lives of people. The pavilion offers a small space for relaxation, play, and conversation—an experiment in how we might build with more care, flexibility, and responsibility in the future. Visit the museum garden (which is open to the public without requiring a ticket to the museum) and gain a tangible insight into how researchers are working to develop new, sustainable principles for architectural design. Repair Pavilion will be on display in the museum garden until the end of May.

The research team behind the Repair Pavilion will be restoring the pavilion with new panels throughout the exhibition period. Everyone interested is welcome to observe the process. Work on the pavilion will take place from 10 to 12 on April 28, May 13, May 20, and May 27. No registration is required, and admission to the museum garden is free.

The Repair Pavilion is part of CITA’s project Eco-Metabolistic Architecture, which is supported by the EU’s Horizon 2020 program and connects to the symposium Broken World Building, held at Designmuseum Danmark in May 2024.