Southwark’s new hidden pavilion is ahead of the curve
We visit the recently completed Southwark Park Pavilion in South London, a small structure that punches well above its weight, courtesy of Bell Phillips Architects

It’s the mark of a good piece of architecture when the building in question, despite being new, feels like it’s always been there. Southwark Park Pavilion, the latest addition to the 151-year-old park in South East London is doing just that.
Designed by Bell Philips Architects (BPA), the pavilion opened to the public last week as part of a soft launch (the official opening is in February). Yet despite the overcast and chilly January climate, the pavilion is already busy with parents, prams and puppies making the most of the new local café.
Its immediate success is no doubt down to its location: a modest, single storey structure, the pavilion wraps around the park’s lake with a sweeping curved façade, which includes a generous amount of glazing and an open area to facilitate views over the water. It’s not the most romantic of landscapes by any stretch — there’s an empty, shelled out tower looming over the park — but for this pocket of South East London, it’s a welcome gesture that maximizes all that’s around it.
This is no accident, of course. The pavilion is part of a wider masterplan from Kinnear Landscape Architects and it serves as an anchor and threshold for numerous aspects of the park: a refurbished play area to the north, open parkland to the south and most importantly the lake to the west.
Clad in brick with a protective white cementitious coating, the pavilion is easily spotted among the greenery and, while only being just over four metres high, is naturally the park’s focal point. Along with being seen, the pavilion can be seen through, too. Glazing on the south side and another opening to the east ensures transparency, with sightlines onto the lake being prioritised. ‘We wanted to make an intervention that enhanced the park and connected it with the lake. The lake, up until now, was sort of forgotten,' says Hari Phillips, director and founder at BPA.
Wander around Southwark Park Pavilion looking for a straight wall, however, and you’ll be hard pressed to find one; all six external walls are curved. According to Phillips, the pavilion’s concave form emerged in response to the meandering pathways and sinuous landscape it’s surrounded by. As well as the lake, the building lies adjacent to the former Southwark Park Oval cricket pitch, once home to Surrey Cricket Club before it moved to the Oval in Kennington. ‘We started out with a volume and nibbled out circular geometries, then pulled the pavilion into shape around the lake,' adds Phillips.
At 285 sq m, the pavilion also hosts park offices, toilets and offers bin storage facilities alongside the cafe. These less sexy parts are neatly tucked away into the corners of the building, while photovoltaic panels and the building’s mechanical and engineering services, have been hidden on the roof, allowing the café and the lake view it boasts to be the pavilion’s main attraction.
As a result, the pavilion is more about what’s around it than itself. This isn’t a flashy, attention demanding building, far from it, and Southwark Park is all the better for it too. Rather than attempting to shout louder than the landscape it inhabits, the pavilion gracefully unites its surroundings and provides a welcome set of park amenities in the process.
INFORMATION
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Puiforcat brings something new to the table with a wooden cutlery set
Jasper Morrison's collection for Puiforcat features cherry wood cutlery finished with fuki-urushi lacquering, a first foray into wood for the silverware company
-
A clifftop Rethymno house tells a story, framing views as far as the Libyan Sea
This house in Rethymno on the Greek island of Crete, designed by architects Gkotsis Serafimidou, is rich in local and natural materials – an oasis at which to disconnect
-
Waldorf Astoria Maldives rolls out a rare Ferrari joyride for guests
Waldorf Astoria Maldives, in partnership with Hedley Studios, allows guests to test-drive a scaled-down, all-electric version of Ferrari’s 250 Testa Rossa
-
Shard Place offers residents the chance to live in the shadow of London’s tallest building
The 27-storey tower from Renzo Piano Building Workshop joins The Shard and The News Building to complete Shard Quarter, providing a sophisticated setting for renters
-
Kengo Kuma’s ‘Paper Clouds’ in London is a ‘poem’ celebrating washi paper in construction
‘Paper Clouds’, an installation by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, is a poetic design that furthers research into the use of washi paper in construction
-
Foster + Partners to design the national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II
For the Queen Elizabeth II memorial, Foster + Partners designs proposal includes a new bridge, gates, gardens and figurative sculptures in St James’ Park
-
Wolves Lane Centre brings greenery, growing and grass roots together
Wolves Lane Centre, a new, green community hub in north London by Material Cultures and Studio Gil, brings to the fore natural materials and a spirit of togetherness
-
A new London exhibition explores the legacy of Centre Pompidou architect Richard Rogers
‘Richard Rogers: Talking Buildings’ – opening tomorrow at Sir John Soane’s Museum – examines Rogers’ high-tech icons, which proposed a democratic future for architecture
-
At the Royal Academy summer show, architecture and art combine as never before
The Royal Academy summer show is about to open in London; we toured the iconic annual exhibition and spoke to its curator for architecture, Farshid Moussavi
-
This ingenious London office expansion was built in an on-site workshop
New Wave London and Thomas-McBrien Architects make a splash with this glulam extension built in the very studio it sought to transform. Here's how they did it
-
Once vacant, London's grand department stores are getting a new lease on life
Thanks to imaginative redevelopment, these historic landmarks are being reborn as residences, offices, gyms and restaurants. Here's what's behind the trend