A möbius ribbon for Luxembourg, architecture as a continuous gesture

Metaform Architects begins from a desire that is both symbolic and concrete: to offer a true reflection of Luxembourg’s past, present, and future, while projecting the values the country wants to carry forward. Small but ambitious, intriguing yet reassuring, generous and open. The chosen figure is a Möbius strip, a loop formed by a single twisted surface with no beginning and no end. Here, infinity is not treated as an abstract flourish. It becomes an architectural argument about continuity, circular economy thinking, and diversity held within one unified gesture.

AN EMBLEM THAT BECOMES A ROUTE

FLOW AS THE FIRST ARCHITECTURAL BRIEF

The pavilion’s strongest decisions are made in the name of movement. Under high visitor pressure, the challenge is not only to welcome, but to keep the journey clear and swift without reducing it to a corridor. Metaform introduces a setback between the main walking street and the pavilion. That distance functions as a buffer, allowing the whole form to be grasped before entry. It also gives the queue a spatial dignity, turning waiting into a first chapter rather than a logistical leftover.

A RAMP THAT STAGES ARRIVAL

Because the visitor experience begins in line, the architects design the approach as choreography. A ramp becomes a welcoming red carpet, not as spectacle, but as a steady invitation to discover the building. It guides people along a continuous path and gradually dissolves the boundary between outside and inside. The pavilion is less a room to enter than a route to inhabit, with the body learning the concept through walking.

WHEN SCENOGRAPHY BECOMES ARCHITECTURE

The project treats scenography and architecture as complementary instruments, tasked with merging people and exhibition into one continuous experience. Projections and animations unfold in a didactic, interactive, intuitive register, presenting the country through an uninterrupted visual flux from start to finish, culminating in the upper level experience. The ribbon itself becomes a multilayered canvas, alternately read as floor, wall, and ceiling, each surface available as a medium of expression.

The journey from bottom to top remains continuous, yet constantly changing. Moving between inner and outer protective skins, visitors experience the sensation of being inside and outside at the same time. Spatial proportions shift with each sequence, echoing the perceptual changes of Luxembourg City, shaped by its particular landscape. Parallel visual connections appear across different levels and stages. Ambiences can change in an instant, and that rapid modulation is used to spark curiosity, keeping attention alive as the pavilion unfolds.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY AS A CONSTRUCTION DISCIPLINE

A central requirement was to complete the project with seventy percent reused or recycled materials. Metaform meets this constraint by opting for a steel construction strategy. The fiberglass membrane, difficult to recycle, is addressed through reuse, with the producer agreeing to take it back for that purpose. It is a pragmatic form of circularity, embedded in procurement and afterlife as much as in concept.

Project Credit

Project name: Luxembourg Pavilion – Expo 2020 Dubai
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Design firm: Metaform / @metaform_architects
Year: 2020
Photo: Steve Troes

More Photos