Runway Rain
Installation Lausanne Jardins 2024, ongoingwith Alessio de Gottardi, Dominic Fritschi,
Fabian Tobias Reiner, Sven Högger
Runway Rain is an immersive intervention as part of Lausanne Jardins 2024 that reimagines the relationship between the built environment, nature, and urban life. Located on the iconic rooftop of the Piscine de Bellerive, the installation blends the historical legacy of modernist architecture with a new ecological vision. The project explores the festival’s overarching theme “Between the Water and Us” by introducing a delicate, mobile irrigation system that transforms the rooftop into a dynamic and productive garden. Water becomes the link between leisure and cultivation, nurturing both plants and bathers alike. The once-forgotten terrace, a relic of the past formerly promising light, air, hygiene and movement, is reactivated as a site of collective engagement.
Due to the immersive garden experience, the boundaries between recreational space and urban farming become blurred. And the possibility to farm in a place where water’s dual role as both life-giver and cooling agent, fosters a new understanding of sustainability and collectivity.
By revitalizing the space and inviting the public to participate in its cultivation, Runway Rain embodies an optimistic vision of coexistence between consumers and producers, transforming a currently neglected site into a vibrant, interactive experience of water, nature, and urban life. Over the course of the festival, the site hosted a variety of events, peaking in a performative dinner where roller skating and live cooking offered visitors yet another way to experience the space.
Due to the immersive garden experience, the boundaries between recreational space and urban farming become blurred. And the possibility to farm in a place where water’s dual role as both life-giver and cooling agent, fosters a new understanding of sustainability and collectivity.
By revitalizing the space and inviting the public to participate in its cultivation, Runway Rain embodies an optimistic vision of coexistence between consumers and producers, transforming a currently neglected site into a vibrant, interactive experience of water, nature, and urban life. Over the course of the festival, the site hosted a variety of events, peaking in a performative dinner where roller skating and live cooking offered visitors yet another way to experience the space.