Evanescence architecture. Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009 by SANAA

On the occasion of the next Olympic games and the new edition of the Serpentine Gallleries, we are republishing the project carried out by the Japanese SANAA office 12 years after its construction.

Like every summer, the London Gallery, Serpentine Gallleries, invites an architectural studio or architect who has not had much relevance in England to design a space, a temporary pavilion in Kensington Gardens. In 2009 the Japanese studio Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA) was chosen.

This Serpentine Galleries Pavilion 2009 opened on July 12 and remained open until October 18, 2009.

"The design embraces the park as never before and reveals the play of light and perception so characteristic of his work. This pavilion will this summer be a wonderful addition to London’s surroundings. For us it is a dream that comes true."

Julia Peyton-Jones, gallery director.

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009; Designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA; Photograph © 2009 Iwan Baan

The Japanese studio SANAA (Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa) made a proposal that was based on a light horizontal plane, supported by columns of reduced thickness. Thanks to the polished aluminum this worked like a mirror in such a way that it reflected the sky and the park in which it was located, this concept towards which the pavilion and the park were one.

As for the accesses of this pavilion were arranged in such a way that the experience of reaching it was the same for everyone. In addition all the areas under the deck were level to be able to sit, thus there would be a capacity for 150 people, and those seats would be moved to be able to move them to the open spaces as needed. The capacity of the pavilion without seats was 300 people.

“The Pavilion is floating aluminium, drifting freely between the trees like smoke. Its appearance changes according to the weather, allowing it to melt into the surroundings. It works as a field of activity with no walls, allowing uninterrupted views across the park and encouraging access from all sides."

Sejima and Nishizawa.

The proposal was very innovative because it was of great aesthetic simplicity but at the same time had a great technical complexity that had nothing to do with the pavilions of the previous years.

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009; Designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA; Photograph by Nick Guttridge/VIEW

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009; Designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA; Photograph by Claire Byrne

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009; Designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA; Photograph by Edmund Sumner/VIEW

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009; Designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA; Photograph © 2009 Luke Hayes

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009; Designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA, Photograph by © 2009 James Newton

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009; Designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA, Photograph © 2009 James Newton

Sketch. Serpentine Gallery 2009 Pavilion by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA.

Ground floor plan. Serpentine Gallery 2009 Pavilion by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA.

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More information

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Architects

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SANAA.- Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa.

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Design Team

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SANAA Sam Chermayeff Lucy Styles
Project & Construction Management: MACE, Stephen Pycroft, Gareth Lewis, Philip Solomon, Arsenio Cruz, David Tosh, Garet Estensen, Sheraz Khawar.
Structural Engineering: Arup, Cecil Balmond, David Glover, Ed Clark, Mitsuhiro Kanada, Duncan Steel, Jeff Shaw, Christian Dercks, James Danegreen.
Planning Supervisor: Lend Lease Projects, Simon Herrington.
Quantity Surveyor: Davis Langdon, Paul Davis, Jonathan Dixon.
Town Planning Consultants: DP9 Barnaby Collins.
Sponsored by: NetJets Europe.

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Advisors

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Arup Stanhope plc.
Platinum Sponsor.- Mace Group.

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Client

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Serpentine Galleries. Julia Peyton-Jones, Director. Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director. Julie Burnell, Project Leader. Sophie O'Brien and Rebecca Morrill, Project Organisers.
Advisors.- Lord Palumbo, Chairman, Serpentine Board of Trustees. Zaha Hadid, Architect, Serpentine Board of Trustees. Peter Rogers, Director, Stanhope. Plc Mark Camley, Chief Executive, Royal Parks Agency. Westminster City Council Planning Office. Westminster City Council District. Surveyor's Office (Building Control) Westminster City Council (Licensing Authority). London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority London Region, English Heritage. Friends of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.

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Area

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557 sqm.
Dimensions of Pavilion.
Footprint.- 557 sqm. Maximum height: 3.5m. Minimum height.- 1m
Structure and materials Stainless steel columns Aluminium and plywood composite roof Light grey concrete flooring.

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Dates

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Exhibition period.- July 2 to October 19, 2009. Construction period.- May 5 to July 9, 2009.
Construction period.- 5 May - 9 July 2009
Dismantling.- 20 October - 23 November 2009 (approximately 5 weeks)

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Location

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Kensington Gardens, London, United Kingdom.

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Photography

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Iwan Baan, Claire Byrne, Luke Hayes, James Newton.

KAZUYO SEJIMA & RYUE NISHIZAWA. SANAA

SANAA. Kazuyo Sejima (Ibaraki, Japan, 1956) and Ryue Nishizawa (Kanagawa, Japan, 1966) worked independently from each other before founding the SANAA Ltd. studio in 1995. Having studied architecture at the Japan Women’s University, Sejima went on to work for the renowned architect Toyo Ito. She set up her studio in 1987 and in 1992 was proclaimed Young Architect of the Year in Japan. Nishizawa studied architecture at the Yokohama National University. In addition to his work with Sejima, he has had his practice since 1997.

The studio has built several extraordinarily successful commercial and institutional buildings, civic centres, homes and museums both in Japan and elsewhere. These include the O Museum in Nagano (1999) and the N Museum in Wakayama (1997), the Day-Care Center in Yokohama (2000), the Prada Beauty Store in Tokyo and Hong Kong (2001), the Issey Miyake and Christian Dior Building in Tokyo (2003) and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa (2004). Sejima also designed the famous Small House in Tokyo (2000), the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion, Toledo, Ohio (2001-2006), the extension to the Institut Valencia d’Art Modern, Valencia, Spain (2002 – ), the Zollverein School, Essen, Germany (2003-2006), the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2003-2007) and the Novartis Campus WSJ-157 Office Building, Basle, Switzerland (2003 – ).

In 2004 Sejima and Nishizawa were awarded the Golden Lion at the 9th Venice Architecture Biennale for their distinguished work on the Metamorph exhibition.

Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa have won the 2010 Pritzker Prize.

The 12th International Architecture Exhibition was directed by Kazuyo Sejima, the first woman to direct the Venice Architecture Biennale, since its inception in 1980.