Musée d'ethnographie MEG, Genf

The esplanade of the Ethnographic Museum in Geneva stretches as an urban square between the entrance building of the new museum complex and the school building that borders to the east. The requirement of connecting everyday life in the district with high-quality exhibition spaces in direct proximity led to the central design idea of the ‘garden carpet’. The carpet, which calls to mind an idealized landscape by means of elaborate ornamentation, was developed in the tradition of the “millefleur” carpets of the early Middle Ages. The sensuousness of the square that is envisioned is generated by scent, sound, and color, and is realized by means of the established layers of the garden carpet, a designed miniature landscape.