The preliminary design for this years’ Serpentine pavilion project has been unveiled by Japanese duo Sanaa, as part of the gallery’s nine-year long tradition of commissioning artists such as Oscar Neimeyer and Rem Koolhaas to design the ever-popular summer-fixtures.
The design, unveiled two weeks ago is what the architects describe as ‘floating aluminium drifting freely through trees like smoke’, working ‘as a field of activity with no walls, allowing views to extend uninterrupted across the park and encouraging access from all sides’.
The project will be built on slim columns, helping it appear to float in the sky at the height of trees in some places, and almost drop to the ground in others, ‘so that people can use it as a table,’ said Julia Peyton-Jones of the Serpentine Gallery.
Peyton-Jones’ decision to commission architects that she describes as ‘pre-eminent’, and yet to debut in England means there will be plenty more exciting and fresh projects for years to come. All of the pavilions are self-funded projects lasting a maximum of six months from invitation to completion. It will be, according to the Sanaa, an ‘sheltered extension of the park (Kensington Gardens) where people can read, relax and enjoy lovely summer days.
How optimistic of the duo (and lets hope they turn out to be right), to think that we will have any of these this year!
Ricardo
3 years, 11 months ago
A lot of people comparing Sanaa’s pavillion with Niemeyer’s Ibirapuera marquise( built in the 40’s). Actually a similar solution for a similar challenge: dwelling from the sun, rain, while integrating with a beautiful surrounding park… The diference here appears to be not only the scale but also the approach to the biefing itself. Ibirapuera marquise is enormous, when compared to Sanna’s pavillion – when you are under it, you feel quite protected, but also separated from the park (it has always intrigued me a lot) – the park looks like far away and, moreover, framed by the concrete structure – the so persued by modern architecture “integration” with nature, kind of say – “ok, nature is beautiful but lets keep it outside”, or “nature is beautiful, lets frame it then..”. and that’s exactly what Sanaa’s pavillion will not do. It is basically the same solution, but the 21st century approach for the “integration with nature” issue is quite different… it will hardly protect those bellow it from the usual bad weather of the londoner summer, and will still play with your senses, by creating reflections, distorted images, etc kind of borrowing the real trees, moan, and even the real visitors to create a new virtual, untangible park experience.
Simplicity, purity, etc has always linked the work of Niemeyer to those of japanese and maybe, scandinavian architects and designers. The great goal of this year’s pavillion in my oppinion, is to show up such kind of architecture in Europe today, when most of the architects are depply seduced by the personalism, this strange ego trip and the media need of creating star architects, star designers, star musicians, star chefs, star dogs, stars, stars, stars…. when the true architecture is actually more than that, or lets say it better, architecture is less than that.