Serpentine's summer houses go up for sale via Modern House

Design-led London property agents The Modern House are offering the opportunity to buy the Serpentine Galleries' four summer houses, on display alongside this year's pavilion. Pictured: Barkow Leibinger's contribution

(Image credit: Iwan Baan)

By Ellie Stathaki

last updated 28 October 2022

in Features

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

the historic Queen Caroline&rsquo;s Temple — 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&rsquo;s ethereal metal structure — 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

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).