The 2019 Serpentine Pavilion, the temporary structure erected each year in London’s Hyde Park, has been unveiled. The pavilion has been designed by Junya Ishigami — known for his experimental structures that interpret traditional architectural conventions and reflect natural phenomena.
‘My design for the pavilion plays with our perspectives of the built environment against the backdrop of a natural landscape, emphasizing a natural and organic feel as though it had grown out of the lawn, resembling a hill made out of rocks,’ explains the japanese architect Junya Ishigami.
The photos offer a more detailed look at the pavilion's architectural features, such as the way the roof curves down at the corners and the underside of the expansive slate canopy.
Junya Ishigami’s design for the 2019 Serpentine pavilion takes inspiration from roofs, the most common architectural feature used around the world. The design is made by arranging slates to create a single canopy roof that appears to emerge from the ground of the surrounding park. Within, the interior of the pavilion is an enclosed cave-like space, a refuge for contemplation. For Ishigami, the pavilion articulates his ‘free space’ philosophy in which he seeks harmony between man-made structures and those that already exist in nature.
'This is an attempt to supplement traditional architecture with modern methodologies and concepts, to create in this place an expanse of scenery like never seen before. Possessing the weighty presence of slate roofs seen around the world, and simultaneously appearing so light it could blow away in the breeze, the cluster of scattered rock levitates, like a billowing piece of fabric.'
Ishigami is the 19th architect to design a pavilion at the Serpentine, following works by Frida Escobedo (2018), Francis Kere (2017), Bjarke Ingels (2016), and SelgasCano (2015). The pavilion was unveiled earlier today, but the news has been overshadowed by the announcement that Serpentine CEO Yana Peel has resigned amid a row over spyware.
