Main author
Michael BrooksBlur Building
See the Unusual building of the week series here.
The Blur Building was a temporary pavilion built for the Swiss EXPO 2002 by the architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). Located at the base of Lake Neuchatel in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, the structure was intended to be an ‘architecture of atmosphere’.
It claimed to use water as the primary building material; pumping it from the lake before filtering and shooting it as a fine mist through 31,500 high-pressure mist nozzles. Controlled by a smart weather system that regulated the water pressure, the water vapour created an ‘artificial cloud’ that dominated its form.
The lightweight structure measured 300 ft x 200 ft, and appeared to hover 75 ft above the lake’s surface on four columns. The columns sat on piles sunk deep beneath the water. A system of rectilinear struts and diagonal rods cantilevered the structure out over the lake, with walkways weaving through it and providing a counterweight. The architects based this ‘tensegrity’ structural form on the work of Buckminster Fuller.
A 400 ft long ramp took visitors to the open-air platform where they were able to enter and move around in the fog, the intention being to experience a ‘white-out’ and alter perception of the senses.
Despite critical success and being visited by more than 1 million people, the structure was not intended to be permanent and was dismantled at the end of the exhibition.
[edit] Find out more
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
Featured articles and news
CLC and BSR process map for HRB approvals
One of the initial outputs of their weekly BSR meetings.
Building Safety Levy technical consultation response
Details of the planned levy now due in 2026.
Great British Energy install solar on school and NHS sites
200 schools and 200 NHS sites to get solar systems, as first project of the newly formed government initiative.
600 million for 60,000 more skilled construction workers
Announced by Treasury ahead of the Spring Statement.
The restoration of the novelist’s birthplace in Eastwood.
Life Critical Fire Safety External Wall System LCFS EWS
Breaking down what is meant by this now often used term.
PAC report on the Remediation of Dangerous Cladding
Recommendations on workforce, transparency, support, insurance, funding, fraud and mismanagement.
New towns, expanded settlements and housing delivery
Modular inquiry asks if new towns and expanded settlements are an effective means of delivering housing.
Building Engineering Business Survey Q1 2025
Survey shows growth remains flat as skill shortages and volatile pricing persist.
Construction contract awards remain buoyant
Infrastructure up but residential struggles.
Home builders call for suspension of Building Safety Levy
HBF with over 100 home builders write to the Chancellor.
CIOB Apprentice of the Year 2024/2025
CIOB names James Monk a quantity surveyor from Cambridge as the winner.
Warm Homes Plan and existing energy bill support policies
Breaking down what existing policies are and what they do.
Treasury responds to sector submission on Warm Homes
Trade associations call on Government to make good on manifesto pledge for the upgrading of 5 million homes.
A tour through Robotic Installation Systems for Elevators, Innovation Labs, MetaCore and PORT tech.
A dynamic brand built for impact stitched into BSRIA’s building fabric.
BS 9991:2024 and the recently published CLC advisory note
Fire safety in the design, management and use of residential buildings. Code of practice.