This year's Serpentine Pavilion (opens in new tab) in London's Hyde Park is a jumbo, 3D grid that grows organically from the ground. Articulated by slender, white, steel bars, this assemblage of small cubes - a cross between a garden folly and a mathematical model - is the product of the Tokyo architect Sou Fujimoto (opens in new tab). In this short film, we take a look at the making of the pavilion, and follow its journey from concept to reality.
See more images of the 2013 pavilion and its predecessors
'The experience is more like a labyrinth but the space is very simple,' says Fujimoto. Sized more like furniture than architecture, the main frame consists of 80 cm cubes, many subdivided into 40 cm cubes that double as stairs and stepped seating. While railings outside minimize missteps and roof climbing, guiderails inside prevent bumped heads.
The decision to build with a white grid stemmed from Fujimoto's initial goal of creating an 'architectural landscape'. To forge a strong connection between his building and its surroundings, he needed to create a translucent volume. A small scale, 3D grid - Fujimoto has been grappling with grids since the start of his career - fit the bill perfectly. To sculpt the pavilion's form plus place clear polycarbonate inserts, vertical panels for windbreaks and horizontal, disks for rain protection, Fujimoto used a 1:10 study model. '[The design] is so complicated that we had to make a big model to understand it exactly,' explains the architect.
Prefabricated at creative manufacturers Stage One's facilities in York, Fujimoto's design was then trucked to London in preassembled units that were bolted together on site by the engineers at Aecom (opens in new tab), under the direction of David Glover, who has worked a succession of Serpentine Pavilions, though formerly with Arup (opens in new tab). At the end of its tenure, the pavilion can be taken apart and carted off to a new home.
ADDRESS
Serpentine Gallery
Kensington Gardens
London W2 3XA
-
Geoffrey Bawa’s Lunuganga Estate offers chance to stay in the architect’s master suiteGeoffrey Bawa’s Lunuganga Estate opens the celebrated architect’s former master suite to visitors in Sri Lanka
-
The best London art exhibitions: a guide for March 2023
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, and those around the UK in March 2023, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
-
Craig Green on his ‘decorated men’ and those hand-moulded leather accessories
‘They are almost like a relic,’ says British designer Craig Green of the hand-moulded leather objects that appeared as part of his S/S 2023 collection, a musing on functionality and decoration
-
The best London art exhibitions: a guide for March 2023
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, and those around the UK in March 2023, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
-
Ai Weiwei's largest-ever Lego artwork revealed at London’s Design Museum
At London’s Design Museum, Ai Weiwei has unveiled Water Lilies #1, a new Lego recreation of Claude Monet’s iconic painting. We explore the vast new work ahead of the Chinese artist’s major show at the museum, opening on 7 April 2023
-
Lynda Benglis’ seductive hall of mirrors and juicy neon eggs in London
American artist Lynda Benglis subverts expectations with new bronze sculptures and otherworldly coloured eggs in a new solo show at Thomas Dane Gallery, London
-
London show celebrates the male physique in photography, from muscle hunks to scruffy punks
‘A Hard Man is Good to Find!’ – newly open at London’s Photographers’ Gallery – is a delectable survey of queer photographs of the male body created in London between the 1930s and early 1990s
-
Eric van Hove brings Morocco to Mayfair in a sculpture exhibition at Connolly
At Connolly in London’s Mayfair, Eric van Hove’s ‘Fenduq’ sees British poise collide with the raw grace of Moroccan creativity
-
Inside Shoreditch Arts Club: east London’s new hub for cultural and culinary delights
Shoreditch Arts Club, opening on 7 March, is a new private members' club set within the landmark Tea Building that aims to evoke ‘the curiosity of an avid art collector’s home’
-
Mike Nelson at Hayward Gallery: a dystopian thriller that’s impossible to forget
We review Mike Nelson’s epic survey show ‘Extinction Beckons’ at Hayward Gallery, London, a monumental exhibition filled with dark humour, unsettling encounters, and modernist dreams lost to capitalism
-
Olgaç Bozalp’s journey through forced migration, longing and childhood nostalgia
Photographer Olgaç Bozalp’s powerful series ‘Home, Leaving One For Another’ is now on view at 10 14 Gallery, London
