Serpentine unveils SelgasCano pavilion
By Cate St Hill
Madrid-based architect SelgasCano has created a colourful, double-skinned structure for the Serpentine's 15th pavilion
London’s Serpentine Galleries has revealed the first image of Selgas Cano’s pavilion, the 15th annual pavilion since the commission was launched in 2000.
The Madrid-based architect has designed a colourful, double-layered, polygonal structure made of translucent ETFE panels wrapped in webbing.
Visitors will be able to pass through the outer and inner layer of the structure into a ‘stained-glass effect’ interior with a cafe.
They said of their design: ‘When the Serpentine invited us to design the Pavilion, we began to think about what the structure needed to provide and what materials should be used in a Royal Park in London. These questions, mixed with our own architectural interests and the knowledge that the design needs to connect with nature and feel part of the landscape, provided us with a concept based on pure visitor experience.
‘We sought a way to allow the public to experience architecture through simple elements: structure, light, transparency, shadows, lightness, form, sensitivity, change, surprise, colour and materials. We have therefore designed a Pavilion which incorporates all of these elements. The spatial qualities of the Pavilion only unfold when accessing the structure and being immersed within it.
‘We are also very much aware of the Pavilion’s anniversary in our design for the 15th annual commission. The structure therefore had to be – without resembling previous Pavilions – a tribute to them all and a homage to all the stories told within those designs.’
Selgas Cano follows in the footsteps of Zaha Hadid, Oscar Niemeyer, Rem Koolhaas and Cecil Balmond, Frank Gehry and Jean Nouvel to name a few of the architects who have created a structure for the Serpentine Galleries lawn.
The pavilion will open on 25 June until 18 October, with a series of events – Serpentine’s Park Nights – taking place on Friday nights between July and September.
Indicative CGI: Steven Kevin Howson/SelgasCano
