Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2010 by Jean Nouvel

Red, glass-fronted building on grass
 The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2010 by Jean Nouvel. Photograph by Philippe Ruault
(Image credit: Philippe Ruault)

Jean Nouvel's new blaze of red steel in London's Hyde Park is the tenth in the Serpentine Gallery's series of summer pavilions, whose past pedigree of architects includes Zaha Hadid, Oscar Niemeyer and Saana, to reel off a few. Rarely one for quiet gestures, the French architect - whose previous projects include Paris' Institut du Monde Arabe and the Copenhagen Concert Hall - has created a bold geometrical structure with a soaring, 12m tall cantilevered wall. Here, we see it under construction and take a look at the full series of experimental pavilions.

Watch the film of Nouvel's Serpentine Gallery Pavilion under construction

Nouvel's design consists of a series of retractable awnings and freestanding walls. It's a fluid, open space whose glass roofs and fabric screens manipulate the light to often hallucinatory effect. 'I wanted to play with the diffusion of light and diffraction of the surrounding images,' he explains. Inspired by British icons, like the London bus and the post box, the flaming structure is the first Serpentine pavilion to embrace colour. Says Nouvel: 'It's a symphony of different reds.'

Last year's floating pavilion by Saana inspired a high level of interaction from the public and this year's looks set to do the same. The pavilion invites people to play - be it with its ping pong tables or chess boards - and the space is strewn with an eclectic collection of benches, stools and mattress-like pouffes in varying shades of red. It may be a little haphazard for our liking, but it's intentionally so. 'I want disorder in this place,' says Nouvel.

This year's pavilion will also be home to the Serpentine café and a series of talks. Each year the architects are given just six months to complete their structures from the moment they are invited. Says Nouvel of his pavilion: 'It's not meant to be a perfect exercise of beautiful architecture. It's about the sensations that it provides.'

The frame of the structure was constructed in steel. A 12m tall, cantilevered wall emerges from the ground to the left of the pavilion at a gravity defying angle

The frame of the structure was constructed in steel. A 12m tall, cantilevered wall emerges from the ground to the left of the pavilion at a gravity defying angle

(Image credit: TBC)

Rear of the Serpentine Gallery

Nouvel's design consists of a series of retractable awnings and freestanding walls

(Image credit: TBC)

Seating area glowing red from the fabric above

It's a fluid, open space whose glass roofs and fabric screens manipulate the light to sometimes hallucinatory effect

(Image credit: TBC)

Red awnings give everything a red glow

'I wanted to play with the diffusion of light and diffraction of the surrounding images,' says Nouvel 

(Image credit: TBC)

The red, glass-fronted building with a tree in front

The pavilion will be home to Serpentine Gallery cafe and a series of evening talks

(Image credit: TBC)

A silver, open structure with slim pillars in a park

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009
 by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of Sanaa.
 Photograph by Iwan Baan

(Image credit: Iwan Baan)

Silver-covered sheltered walkway

Sanaa described their structure as like 'floating aluminum, drifting freely between the trees like smoke.'

(Image credit: TBC)

The hovering pavilion from above

With no walls and no sense of physical restriction, Sanaa's hovering pavilion perched upon a sparse collection of wispy columns.

(Image credit: TBC)

The wooden structure of the pavilion in 2008

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2008 by Frank Gehry. 
Photograph by Nick Rochowski  

(Image credit: Nick Rochowski)

A twisted mesh of glass, timber and steel, supported on four massive columns

Gehry created a twisted mesh of glass, timber and steel, supported on four massive columns

(Image credit: TBC)

Generously proportioned stepped platforms along the sides transformed the space into an amphitheatre

Generously proportioned stepped platforms along the sides transformed the space into an amphitheatre

(Image credit: TBC)

Illuminated, round structure

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2007 
by Olafur Eliasson and Kjetil Thorsen. Photograph by John Offenbach and Luke Hayes

(Image credit: John Offenbach and Luke Hayes)

A timber-clad structure, reminiscent of a giant spinning top 

The duo created a timber-clad structure, reminiscent of a giant spinning top 

(Image credit: TBC)

Stepped levels inside the pavilion

They experimented with vertical dimensions, abandoning the single-level structures of past pavilions 

(Image credit: TBC)

Looking up to the window in the roof

Inside the Olafur Eliasson and Kjetil Thorsen's pavilion

(Image credit: TBC)

Large, white, illuminated structure

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2006 by Rem Koolhaas and Cecil Balmond. Photography by John Offenbach

(Image credit: John Offenbach)

Seating inside the pavilion consisted of blocks

The centrepiece of the design was an ovoid-shaped inflatable canopy that floated above the gallery’s lawn. The walled enclosure below the canopy functioned both as a café and forum for televised and recorded public programmes, including live talks and film screenings.

(Image credit: TBC)

Large building constructed mainly of glass

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2005 by Alvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura
 with Cecil Balmond. Photograph by Richard Bryant

(Image credit: Richard Bryant)

Shallow A-frame building with glass front and white roof

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2003 by Oscar Niemeyer. Photography by Richard Bryant

(Image credit: Richard Bryant)

White-roofed building with a contrasting red ramp

Built in steel, aluminium, concrete and glass, its ruby-red ramp contrasted with the surprise of a partly submerged auditorium, affording views across the park.

(Image credit: TBC)

Abstract, angular building at dusk

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2002 by Toyo Ito. Photography by Stephen White

(Image credit: Stephen White)

Seating area inside a building with geometric windows

The numerous triangles and trapezoids formed by this system of intersecting lines were clad to be either transparent or translucent, giving a sense of infinitely repeated motion. 

(Image credit: TBC)

Box-shaped white building with angular windows cut out

The form of the box was created by an apparently random jumble of straight lines created by feeding algorithms into a computer.

(Image credit: TBC)

Looking between walls which are slanted and angular

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2001 by Daniel Libeskind. Photography by Hélène Binet 

(Image credit: Hélène Binet )

Structure consisting of sheer, metallic planes

Named 'Eighteen Turns', the structure was created from sheer metallic planes assembled in a dynamic sequence. 

(Image credit: TBC)

Illuminated structure with a shaped roof

 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2000 by Zaha Hadid.
 Photography by Dafydd Jones

(Image credit: Dafydd Jones)

Triangular-roofed structure with glass facade

Taking its form from a triangulated roof structure, spanning an impressive internal space of 600sq metres, Zaha Hadid's pavilion was built primarily from steel

(Image credit: TBC)

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Serpentine Gallery
Kensington Gardens
London W2 3XA

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Malaika Byng is an editor, writer and consultant covering everything from architecture, design and ecology to art and craft. She was online editor for Wallpaper* magazine for three years and more recently editor of Crafts magazine, until she decided to go freelance in 2022. Based in London, she now writes for the Financial Times, Metropolis, Kinfolk and The Plant, among others.