London’s cultural landscape is altered dramatically and fleetingly each summer with the unveiling of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion Commission. Conceived by the gallery’s director Julia Peyton-Jones in 2000, the project sees a completely different pavilion erected in the gallery grounds each June, with a different design team creating the structure each year. Zaha Hadid was the first to be honoured with the responsibility in 2000; subsequent designers have included Oscar Niemeyer in 2003; Olafur Eliasson and Kjetil Thorsen in 2007; Frank Gehry in 2008; and Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei in 2012.
It has now been revealed that the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 will be designed by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, regarded as one of the most important architects emerging worldwide. Turning 42 this year, he is the youngest architect to accept the invitation to design the Serpentine Pavilion and renderings of his pavilion show an extensive latticed structure built using 20mm steel poles.
The pavilion interior. Image: Studio Cyrille Thomas for Sou Fujimoto Architects
Fujimoto’s designs are frequently inspired by organic structures, such as the forest, nest and cave, and his pavilion carries that pattern forward with the steel poles being layered upon each other to form a semi-transparent edifice that blends into the surrounding landscape. Occupying approximately 350 sq metres of lawn in front of the Serpentine Gallery, the pavilion will function as a flexible, multi-purpose social space and will contain a café. Speaking about his design, Mr. Fujimoto said: “It will… simultaneously protecting visitors from the elements while allowing them to remain part of the landscape. The delicate quality of the structure, enhanced by its semi-transparency, will create a geometric, cloud-like form, as if it were mist rising from the undulations of the park. From certain vantage points, the Pavilion will appear to merge with the classical structure of the Serpentine Gallery, with visitors suspended in space.”
The 2013 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion will be the third to be designed by a Japanese architect – the 2002 pavilion was designed by Toyo Ito, while the 2009 pavilion was designed by Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA. Although Mr. Fujimoto’s designs are found mostly in Japan, he has won a number of international design prizes including the Architectural Review Awards and Wallpaper magazine’s 2010 Design Award. His Serpentine pavilion will be in place from June 8 to October 20, 2013.
House NA is a Sou Fujimoto-designed residence in Tokyo. Image: Sou Fujimoto Architects; Iwan Baan
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