Shopping spree: Serpentine Galleries’ summer houses on sale via The Modern House
![Barkow Leibinger's contribution](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7HNdDNe8NbpimbTkaDPdSC-415-80.jpg)
Since early June, not one, but five temporary pavilions, have been gracing London’s Kensington Gardens, courtesy of the Serpentine Galleries. The annual Serpentine pavilion – the summer architectural celebration created this year by the expert hand of BIG's Bjarke Ingels – was, for the very first time, accompanied by four summer houses. The four smaller structures dot the park’s green lawns, offering visitors even further space for architectural fun and rest. And now they can now be yours.
London based agents The Modern House, headed by Matt Gibberd and Albert Hill and specialising in design-led properties in the UK and abroad, have just announced their partnership with the Serpentine Galleries to bring the summer houses to market. Designed by four international practices that have never built in London before, they take a varied approach.
You can take your pick. German practice Barkow Leibinger worked with curved plywood for theirs, inspired by a rotating William Kent-designed pavilion; London-based Asif Khan composed a polished metal structure that creates an ‘intimate experience’ for the visitor; Yona Friedman’s ethereal metal structure builds upon his project La Ville Spatiale, which begun in the late 1950s; while Kunlé Adeyemi created his own, inverse abstract version of the historic Queen Caroline’s Temple, working with the building’s neo-classical plan, proportions and form.
Offering the chance to indulge your inner collector, and ranging from £95,000 to £125,000 (plus VAT), the four summer houses will be up for grabs once the Serpentine Galleries' installation is deconstructed in early October.
The German practice worked with curved plywood, inspired by a rotating William Kent-designed pavilion
London-based Asif Khan created a polished metal structure, aiming for an ‘intimate experience’ for the visitor
Kunlé Adeyemi drew inspiration from the historic Queen Caroline’s Temple, and worked with its neo-classical plan, proportions and form for his summer house
Yona Friedman’s ethereal metal structure builds upon the Hugnarian-born architect's project La Ville Spatiale, which begun in the late 1950s
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Modern House website or the Serpentine Galleries website
Photography: Iwan Baan
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Feel at home at Auberge, Château La Coste's new inn for culture lovers
Auberge La Coste sits at the heart of the art-filled estate, minutes away from the joyful town of Aix-en-Provence
By Harriet Thorpe Published
-
This Nova Lima apartment is a Brazilian family oasis with striking Minas Gerais views
A Nova Lima apartment designed by Jacobsen Arquitetura celebrates its long, natural Minas Gerais vistas
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
‘Mental health, motherhood and class’: Hannah Perry’s dynamic installation at Baltic
Hannah Perry's exhibition ’Manual Labour’ is on show at Baltic in Gateshead, UK, a five-part installation drawing parallels between motherhood and factory work
By Emily Steer Published
-
Francis Alÿs plots child play around the world at the Barbican
In Francis Alÿs' exhibition ‘Ricochets’ at London’s Barbican, the artist explores the universality of play, even in challenging situations
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
At Glastonbury’s Shangri-La, activism and innovation meet
Glastonbury’s south-east corner is known for its after-dark entertainment but by day, there is a different story to tell
By Rhian Daly Published
-
‘I am almost an anti-sculptor’: Dominique White on her Whitechapel Max Mara Art Prize show
The artist mines the ocean to explore Afrofuturism in ‘Deadweight’, opening at London’s Whitechapel and detailed in a new film
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
Remembering Rusty Egan's Blitz Club: a place to 'avoid the mob and the homophobes', where the New Romantics were born
As he releases new vinyl boxset, 'Blitzed!', Wallpaper* meets DJ Rusty Egan to talk about London's scene-building Blitz club – the antidote to the late 70s punk scene and a hot-bed of experimental fashion
By Craig McLean Published
-
Suzannah Pettigrew's 'tender and ghostly' new show at Surrealist photographer Lee Miller's former home in East Sussex
London-based artist Suzannah Pettigrew's photographic stills create a snapshot of her Sussex coast childhood, conjuring up a hallucinatory world of memory
By Mary Cleary Published
-
The body, pleasure and play: Beryl Cook and Tom of Finland united in London
Tom of Finland’s homoeroticism meets Beryl Cook’s female-oriented camp as Studio Voltaire unites work by the two artists in a London exhibition
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Zanele Muholi celebrates South Africa’s Black LGBTI communities in LA and London
Zanele Muholi's portraits and sculptures are currently on show at Southern Guild Los Angeles and the Tate Modern, London
By Hannah Silver Published