Origen Festival, Switzerland

Text and photos: Bálint Rigó

Located in the Swiss canton of Graubünden, Origen festival has been held every year at a mountain pass since 2006. The very first professional facility of a theatre, it has also been continuously an initiative targeted to salvage culture and civilisation. In 2017 the unique venue of the festival it was extended by adding a 30-metre timber tower. The structure actually marks the pass as an outstanding and unique site.
Made of timber exclusively, the timber tower is where we arrive at a stage within a centrally symmetrical ten-pointed space in the middle. The service areas are housed in ten smaller closed pentagonal spires between which space-deep openings offer views of the surrounding landscape. The wooden surfaces have been treated with dark red varnish, and thus the dim light dominating the interior creates a sharp contrast with the snow-covered external world. Spiral staircases lead us on to the auditorium inside the towers. The entirely closed windowless passage space reveals untreated natural wooden clad surfaces. The auditorium surrounds the circular stage suspended above the foyer as a steep tribune.