Allgemeine Anthroposophische Gesellschaft
Basel
Goetheanum | Award-Winning Architecture: Preparations Pavilion and Bee Sculpture
- 07 August 2026
- 100%
- Permanent position
- Basel
Job summary
The Goetheanum Garden Park showcases two award-winning buildings.
Tasks
- The expressive prepatatory pavilion won Iconic Awards 2025.
- The bee sculpture received honorable mentions and an award.
- Both designs emphasize nature and architectural innovation.
Skills
- Designed by talented architects like Yaike Dunselman.
- Features a unique hexagonal honeycomb shape.
- Incorporates sensory experiences with bees and wax.
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About the job
Award-winning architecture: Preparations pavilion and bee sculpture
In the Goetheanum garden park stand two prize-winning new buildings: The expressive preparations pavilion (design: Yaike Dunselman) received the Iconic Awards 2025 and the German Design Award 2026; the bee sculpture (design: Barbara Schnetzler) was honoured with an "Honourable Mention" by the architecture and design platform March and received a recognition award from the canton of Solothurn, Switzerland.
Large twisted wooden beams radiate towards the northwest. They are said to "resemble blossoming flowers," according to the justifications for both awards. Architect Yaike Dunselman was commissioned to design a pavilion for horticultural work at the Goetheanum on the 100th anniversary of biodynamic agriculture. He created a covered outdoor space for production, presentations, and workshops, and an asymmetrical polygonal interior space with a floor area of 20 square metres for work and storage. In the future, the pavilion will merge with its surroundings, as the roof of the preparation storage is planted with green moss and sedum. The form convinced two architecture juries: The preparations pavilion received the Iconic Awards 2025 and the German Design Award 2026 in the category "Excellent Architecture." The preparations pavilion is a project by 9graden architektur, BSS Architekten, and Blumer Lehmann.
The bee sculpture in the Goetheanum garden park received an "Honourable Mention" from the architecture and design platform March and a recognition award as part of the "Award for Building Culture" from the Solothurn government council, Switzerland. The tower-like structure is about seven metres high, has the (enlarged) floor plan of a honeycomb, and tapers slightly towards the top. Inside the walk-in sculpture, one can smell beeswax and—depending on the season—hear bees buzzing. The beehives are open to the outside, while a glass panel allows a view inside the hive. The jury for the recognition award experienced a space "that deeply touched all our senses with simple means" and that "sets a monument to the 'building operation' of the bees." The bee sculpture was created by Barbara Schnetzler, Basel, and Studio Balthasar Wirz, Basel.
The client for both buildings is the administration of the Goetheanum building of the General Anthroposophical Society.
