Lake Gazebo / Bach Mühle Fuchs + After Apricots

Text description provided by the architects. For the Annecy Paysages 2021 exhibition, we had the opportunity to design a gazebo. A prism-shaped structure is perched on the edge of the lake of Annecy, on the southern edge of the Parc Charles Bosson. Another folly, a gazebo, was added to the park. Inspired by traditional gazebos, the installation invites visitors to expand their perception of the Annecy landscape.

Gazebo (Gaze + -ebo: “I will see”) is more than a pavilion, it is an optical device. Its perforated surfaces interrupt the panorama and show the landscape as a pixelated image. The cutouts show an unusual view of the city, the lake, and the landscape. The pattern of perforations in the papery steel walls is derived from the sun’s orbit.

This site-specific installation is also a solar observation instrument, indicating time through the rotation of shadows. The inner surfaces of the pavilion act as filters and projection surfaces at different times of the day.

As the sun moves across the sky and shines through the perforations, the space fills with an ever-changing pattern of light and shadow. Different degrees of porosity respond to the intensity of light at any given time of day, adjusting the lighting conditions to the mood and color temperature from sunrise to sunset.