Spanish designer Jaime Hayón is making forays into architecture, with this pop-up pavilion at the Stockholm Furniture Fair and a more large-scale project in the pipeline.

The pavilion is in place to host the Hayón DNA gallery, a mini retrospective of Hayón's work. The designer is the guest of honour at this year's Stockholm Furniture Fair – the first major fair on the design calendar.

The "DNA" comes into it because Hayón wanted to explore the building blocks of his work and show how the pieces are connected.

The pavilion that encloses the exhibition features a mishmash of architectural influences that have stuck with the designer from his travels.

"When you enter the space, you get a momentary sense of what's in my brain," Hayón told Dezeen. "I thought you had to be in a shell to feel a little bit of my vibe."

Hayón is currently in the early stages of his first large-scale architecture project, a residential scheme – although he won't reveal any details.

"I'm taking on a big plot and trying to do something special," he teased.

He said the pavilion gave him the chance to experiment with building forms.

"The pavilion is an experimental way of looking at architecture," he continued. "It's a mixture of folklore together with some influences that I have from my travels – little elements and glimpse of things put together in an experimental box."

The white-walled temporary pavilion features three different kinds of entrances, ranging from double doors whose metalwork sketches an animal face to a single arched door dotted with portholes.

White-on-white geometrical elements like cylinders protrude from the exterior, while other shapes are outlined in blue and red paint.White-on-white geometrical elements like cylinders protrude from the exterior, while other shapes are outlined in blue and red paint.

Inside, the exhibition is grouped into themes that have been an ongoing influence for Hayón. These are titled sculpting form, fantasy, flora fauna, folk culture and craft heritage.

The designer is known for his recurring animal imagery, particularly monkeys, which he has featured in a side table, watch and play equipment.

The exhibition also includes one of the designer's favourite chairs, the Sitzmaschine, created by Austrian designer Josef Hoffman in 1905. Hayón was been permission to produce the chair in a special blue finish.

"I've always considered it a very curious, peculiar type of chair, the way it moves – you have a seating area that you move to get a foot rest – it's called the Sitting Machine, a machine of sitting," he said.

"You have to imagine Josef Hoffman in 1905 in Vienna designing that – it's kind of amazing."

Hayón's version of the Sitzmaschine will likely be launched by Austrian brand Wittmann at Milan Design Week in April, as part of a whole collection Hayón has designed for the company.

The designer follows in the footsteps of Thomas Heatherwick and Piet Hein Eek in making the leap from design to architecture.

His Hayón DNA gallery will be installed at Stockholm Furniture Fair until it closes on 11 February 2017. It was one of our top picks of exhibits to see at Stockholm Design Week, along with an exhibition of Shaker-influenced design and a retrospective of Finnish designer Eero Aarnio.