In Pictures: The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2011

By tikichris Last edited 153 months ago
In Pictures: The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2011
5877026125_5e1e499993_z.jpg
5877014289_ea4e94db41_z.jpg
5877010443_0c2e2a6f72_z.jpg
5877547266_dcba2556de_z.jpg
5877557094_6533302287_z.jpg
5877533758_c842767c2e_z.jpg
5877559026_0a2ff7de52_z.jpg
5877576098_f63f657e67_z.jpg
5877578470_9f8c339635_z.jpg
5880297608_ca49e1e3be_z.jpg
5876987247_c44458466d_z.jpg
5876992759_929d462779_z.jpg

Less a statement by the designer and more an experience for park visitors than in recent years, this summer's Serpentine Gallery Pavilion by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor opens to the public tomorrow.

Says Zumthor, it “aims to help its audience take the time to relax, to observe and then, perhaps, start to talk again - maybe not”. The hope of providing a space for folk to take it easy and possibly even chat to one another is realised through the help of an interior “garden within a garden” created by Dutch designer Piet Oudolf (of New York's High Line Park fame).

A plain and inauspicious structure from the outside (though a lot more pleasing to the eye than the original conceptual image suggested), the pavilion offers a flower filled hortus conclusus (contemplative room) reached through a simple maze along with the opportunity for visitors to marvel at how his structure plays with light and shadow … at least on sunny days anyway.

The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2011 is located at the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens and opens tomorrow, 1 July until 16 October 2011. Admission is free.

Photos/Chris Osburn and Kemey Lafond

Last Updated 30 June 2011