Architects: Giona Bierens de Haan, Leopold Banchini
Year: 2024
Photography: Dylan Perrenoud
Materials: Steel scaffolding
City: Geneva
Country: Switzerland
HYPHEN is a temporary, one-kilometer-long architectural installation designed by Giona Bierens de Haan and Leopold Banchini for the 2024 Genève Genève festival in Switzerland. Constructed entirely from standardized scaffolding, the structure creates a continuous public framework accommodating performances, restaurants, bars, stages, tables, and informal gatherings. Functioning as a collective roof, the installation provides shelter and space for both organized events and spontaneous activities. Its conceptual foundation draws from Superstudio’s Continuous Monument, a speculative architectural proposal that questioned technological progress, global architectural uniformity, and the role of design in addressing social problems. HYPHEN reinterprets this radical vision through temporary infrastructure that encourages collective participation rather than prescribing fixed functions. The continuous arrangement of scaffolding establishes a shared setting that seeks to transcend urban divisions and connect people through everyday activities. Following the festival, the standardized construction components return to their regular circulation, reinforcing the installation’s temporary character. By combining modular construction, architectural repetition, and flexible public use, HYPHEN explores how an ephemeral structure can support communal experiences while reconsidering conventional ideas of monumentality, individual architectural expression, and the relationship between infrastructure and public space.
HYPHEN references the radical architectural vision of Superstudio, whose Continuous Monument imagined an immense, uninterrupted grid extending across the world. The speculative megastructure challenged technological optimism and the growing uniformity of global architecture, presenting a dystopian vision of a civilization shaped by standardization. At the same time, its monumental continuity suggested the possibility of architecture moving beyond individual gestures.
“The only form of architecture capable of covering all the contradictions, all the events of daily life: the Continuous Monument” – Superstudio
Designed for the Genève Genève festival, the installation translates this conceptual reference into a one-kilometer-long infrastructure assembled entirely from scaffolding. The continuous steel framework creates a collective roof accommodating performances, restaurants, bars, stages, tables, and shaded spaces for informal gatherings.
Rather than imposing a predetermined program, the installation serves as an open framework shaped by the activities of its users. Its standardized construction system establishes architectural continuity while allowing different forms of public interaction to occur throughout the temporary structure.
The project also seeks to transcend urban divisions, bringing people together through a shared setting for the celebration of everyday life. Its scaffolding components remain part of the existing circulation of construction materials, returning to that system once the festival concludes.
HYPHEN transforms ordinary construction elements into a temporary linear monument, exploring how architectural repetition and collective occupation can create opportunities for connection without requiring permanent intervention.
Project Gallery
Project Location
Address: Geneva, Switzerland
The location specified is intended for general reference and may denote a city or country, but it does not identify a precise address.
