Stapferhaus stages 'Health First' as a museum health check-in — ADC 104 Best of Discipline

Health is part of everyone's life but means something different to each person, and the Swiss museum Stapferhaus wanted an exhibition that sparks curiosity instead of lecturing. The brief to Amsterdam studio Kossmanndejong was to make a complex, personal theme feel light, human and playful rather than medical.

Turn the museum visit into a health check-in: walk diagnosis, treatment and discharge through giant hospital doors, and let visitors operate on the health system itself.

Kossmanndejong designed 'Health First. An Exhibition with Side Effects' as a three-stage circuit — diagnosis, treatment, discharge — divided by oversized hospital doors. Bent-iron questions crown each space, a central interactive emergency room mixes expert interviews with live voting, and playful moments include throwing your phone into a safe to start a digital detox.

Stapferhaus called it its most successful exhibition ever: more than 150,000 visitors before it closed on 28 June 2026. Kossmanndejong logged 807 school groups and 5,000 postcards sent in the first half-year, and ADC 104 named the project Best of Architecture/Interior/Environmental Design plus Gold in Exhibition Design.

Health is part of everyone's life but never means the same thing to two people, which made it a difficult subject for a museum. Stapferhaus in Lenzburg, Switzerland wanted an exhibition that sparks curiosity instead of lecturing, one that feels human rather than medical — so it asked Amsterdam studio Kossmanndejong to make a complex and personal theme light, inviting and playful.

The answer was to make the visit itself the idea. 'Health First. An Exhibition with Side Effects' opened on 10 November 2024 as a three-stage circuit that mirrors a therapeutic session: diagnosis, treatment and discharge, with oversized double hospital doors marking each transition. Questions bent from single pieces of iron crown each space, and in a central emergency room the health system is put on the operating table through expert interviews and interactive voting.

Playfulness ran through the whole show — visitors could row, move, dance, operate, or start a conversation about digital detox by throwing their phone into a safe. Kossmanndejong even produced parts in-house, from bent iron lettering to lampshades for the cafe. Stapferhaus reported 807 school groups and 5,000 postcards sent in the first half-year.

The exhibition closed on 28 June 2026 as the most successful in Stapferhaus history, with more than 150,000 visitors. ADC's 104th Annual Awards made it Best of Architecture/Interior/Environmental Design and gave it Gold in Exhibition Design for museums, and the museum kept its podcast, school material and digital content available after the show ended.

Structuring the exhibition as a health check-in gave strangers a shared, familiar frame for a topic that is personal for everyone.

Oversized hospital doors and bent-iron questions turned transitions into scenes, so visitors physically experienced the stages of care.

Interactive voting and expert interviews made visitors part of the conversation about the health system rather than a passive audience.

Playful acts like throwing a phone into a safe lowered the stakes, letting serious ideas land without feeling like a lesson.

For a topic that is universal yet personal, the journey is the message: framing the show as a check-in gave visitors a familiar structure, so curiosity — not lecturing — carried a serious subject.

The exhibition ran from 10 November 2024 to 28 June 2026 and became the most visited show in Stapferhaus history, passing 150,000 visitors. ADC 104 honored it with Best of Architecture/Interior/Environmental Design and Gold in Exhibition Design, and it was also nominated for a DASA Award. Stapferhaus kept the exhibition's podcast, teaching material and digital content available online after the closing, extending a physical show into a lasting resource.