French architect Jean Nouvel has been announced as the designer of this year's Serpentine Pavilion, the tenth in the series.
The annual competition offers an architect who has never built in Britain the chance to design a temporary structure on the Serpentine's lawn. This was probably Nouvel's last chance for eligibility: his mammoth One New Change retail and office block in the City, a building that particualrly irks Prince Charles, is due for completion this year.
The Pritzker prize-winner's proposal is for a sharp, steel-framed, scarlet-coloured pavilion (perhaps even tinted Routemaster red), with a precariously angled wall pivoting incongruously above it. The interior will have a series of interior partitions and fabrics, allowing it to be reconfigured at will to accommodate the series of public events that the Serpentine will run through summer and autumn.
All being well, the pavilion will open in July, and will be engineered by Arup. An installation by Christian Boltanski, and a series of outdoor table tennis tables, are also promised.
See previous pavillions: Sanaa (2009), Frank Gehry (2008), Olafur Eliasson (2007)
