{"id":434516,"date":"2026-02-19T17:03:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T17:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/434516\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T17:03:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T17:03:13","slug":"asympta-pavilion-draws-on-prehistoric-civilisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/434516\/","title":{"rendered":"Asympta pavilion draws on prehistoric civilisation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Swiss studio Leopold Banchini Architects<\/a> has created Asympta, a stone-and-wood pavilion that evokes the “unknown domestic architectures” of prehistoric societies in today’s Sicily<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The temporary Asympta pavilion was designed in reference to the people who would have lived in the Syracuse-Pantalica area from the 13th to the 7th century BC, when the Necropolis of Pantalica<\/a> was built.<\/p>\n

\"Wood-and-stoneLeopold Banchini Architects placed the Asympta pavilion by the Ionian coast<\/p>\n

A collection of cemeteries from Pantalica is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, together with the city of Syracuse on Sicily’s Ionian coast.<\/p>\n

The pavilion’s form was designed to give an idea of what domestic architecture in the region could have looked like.<\/p>\n

\"PavilonThe pavilion is constructed from local materials<\/p>\n

“Asympta is a speculative micro-architecture reflecting on the largely unknown domestic architectures of the prehistoric civilisation that inhabited the Anapo river valley,” Leopold Banchini Architects said.<\/p>\n

“Asympta is a speculation on a possible architecture born from this unique landscape,” added studio founder Leopold Banchini.<\/p>\n

“Using the resources of the territory as a starting point, the project develops from available materials and possible assembly details,” he told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

\"RoofThe roof tiles were made from lava from Mount Etna<\/p>\n

The structure’s form was designed to accommodate gathering and reflection, and reference both eastern Sicily’s volcanic landscape and the nearby ancient stone quarries.<\/p>\n

It also aimed to question the “romanticised myth of the primitive hut,” the studio explained.<\/p>\n

\"RoofStones from a nearby quarry were used as the foundations<\/p>\n

Banchini used local materials for its construction, including lava stone from the nearby Mount Etna volcano.<\/p>\n

“All the materials of the project are currently and easily available onsite,” Banchini said.<\/p>\n

“The stones used for the foundations come from a nearby quarry, the wood is sourced locally and assembled with traditional joints, the roof tiles are cut in Mount Etna lava.”<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Leopold<\/p>\n

Leopold Banchini transforms roundabout into “intimate and communal” public bathhouse\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The pavilion was first installed in Ortigia, Siracusa, Sicily, last year, and will be shown in Pantalica this year as part of the Siracusa Pantalica festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Ortigia is the tip of Siracusa,” Banchini explained. “As such, it is the very end of the imaginary journey linking the Anaktoron in Pantalica to the port of Siracusa.”<\/p>\n

\"PavilionAsympta has a wooden roof<\/p>\n

Banchini hopes that the Asympta installation will continue to be shown on a yearly basis.<\/p>\n

“The installation was open to the public for one month before being dismantled and stored,” Banchini said.<\/p>\n

“The table and its protective roof create a public yet intimate space to be used for family reunions, informal picnics or political discussions with strangers. It should be reinstalled yearly in different locations.”<\/p>\n

\"PavilionIt was designed as a space for gathering<\/p>\n

Previous projects by Leopold Banchini Architects include the transformation of a fountain in Spain into a temporary public bathhouse<\/a> and a London bar where “all the elements” were made from one oak tree<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The photography is by Simone Bossi<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Swiss studio Leopold Banchini Architects has created Asympta, a stone-and-wood pavilion that evokes the “unknown domestic architectures” of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,10994,479,158647,17784,40339,40340,10684,158646,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-434516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-installations","14":"tag-italy","15":"tag-leopold-banchini-architects","16":"tag-pavilions","17":"tag-sectionall","18":"tag-sectionarchitecture","19":"tag-sicily","20":"tag-simone-bossi","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom","23":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}