A scaffold frame now stands where a building once did in Lugano. Part of a public installation, it invites visitors to climb, and the view turns toward the question the city has not settled: which old structures deserve to stay.
The architecture practice SKNYPL designed the lugano biennale installation for the 6th Biennale Svizzera del Territorio, held in Lugano, Switzerland. The biennale’s theme, Handle with Care, Sit For A While, sets the terms. The project is a multi-site work about the tension between municipal upkeep, architectural preservation, and urban demolition.
The starting point is a paradox. Lugano’s built environment looks carefully maintained. Yet unprotected twentieth-century structures and nineteenth-century villas still come down, leaving gaps in the urban fabric. SKNYPL based its findings on archival research, local press accounts, and historic municipal documents.
Keeping a historic civic building in use can be just as contested, as a Norfolk project shows. Hudson’s Sunlit King’s Lynn Library Revives Norfolk shows how a public building can be reinvested in rather than discarded.
Scaffolding as a place to sit and look
To examine these losses, the studio built modular scaffolding platforms for observation from materials usually tied to demolition and site turnover. The structures use standard scaffolding pipes, walkboards, and synthetic construction safety mesh. Nothing in the kit is special. The designers reassigned it.
The first platform stands at Piazzale di Besso, near the central railway station. It occupies an unbuilt void. An earlier building was demolished there, and nothing replaced it.
The second sits at Via Pazzalino 1, beside a decommissioned municipal school building. Administrative debate over the school is ongoing, and the building faces a threatened teardown. The platform places visitors at the edge of that uncertainty.
What the work asks of visitors
At both sites, the temporary frames become elevated seating. They give the public a fixed vantage point on the contested structure and the empty lot beside it. The viewer is asked to look for longer than a passing glance allows.
That slower looking is the project’s real argument. By framing these buildings, the work questions the criteria used to decide which structures are worth keeping. It also asks how long a building remains useful before it becomes a demolition candidate.
Deciding which neighbourhood buildings get a second life often depends on who gets a say. OMA’s Taipei Renewal Puts Residents at the Center offers a contrasting model where locals help shape the redevelopment itself.
Photographs by Fabio Compagno document the installation, and one image is credited to SKNYPL. The pictures show how ordinary scaffolding can shift from a sign of imminent loss into a place to pause.
The platforms do not decide whether the school or the villas should survive. They make it harder to walk past the question.
Source: designboom.com
Frequently asked questions
Who designed the Lugano Biennale scaffolding installation?
The architecture practice SKNYPL designed the installation for the 6th Biennale Svizzera del Territorio in Lugano, Switzerland. The project is a multi-site work about the tension between municipal upkeep, architectural preservation, and urban demolition.
What materials were used to build the observation platforms in Lugano?
The platforms were built from modular scaffolding, using standard scaffolding pipes, walkboards, and synthetic construction safety mesh. These materials are usually tied to demolition and site turnover, and the designers reassigned them for public seating.
Where are the scaffolding platforms located in Lugano?
One platform stands at Piazzale di Besso, near the central railway station, on an unbuilt void where a demolished building was never replaced. The second is at Via Pazzalino 1, beside a decommissioned municipal school building facing a threatened teardown.
What is the purpose of the Handle with Care installation in Lugano?
The installation questions the criteria used to decide which structures are worth keeping and how long a building remains useful before becoming a demolition candidate. It encourages visitors to look for longer than a passing glance allows at contested buildings and empty lots.
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