Window Heerlen Holy Water

For the Time Space Existence exhibition in Venice, MVRDV collaborated with Metadecor, Airshade, and Alumet among others to create the SOMBRA pavilion. With its shape inspired by heliodon devices, this “ode to the sun” provides a dynamic shading structure in the European Cultural Centre’s Giardini Marinaressa. The SOMBRA pavilion – its name a portmanteau of the Latin words for sun (sol) and shade (umbra) – serves as a demonstration vehicle for an innovative technology: kinetic building elements that work based exclusively on passive physical principles, without using electronics or motors.