Each summer, a strange and unique structure materialises on the lawn of London’s Serpentine Gallery. This is the gallery’s summer pavilion, a temporary structure designed by an architect, unusually of international renown, but who has yet to complete a building in the UK. In past years, architectural luminaries including Zaha Hadid, Frank Ghery, and Herzog & de Meuron have all had their turn, their designs helping the programme of summer pavilions to become one of the most eagerly anticipated design events of the summer – essential viewing for anyone with an interest in architecture and design, but hugely popular with the general public too (last year’s pavilion, by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, attracted some 200,000 visitors).
Visitors climb on Sou Fujimoto’s 2013 Serpentine Gallery pavilion.
This year’s it’s the turn of Chilean architect Smiljan Radic, whose preliminary design work shows a rounded, semi-translucent spaceship-like form, which will glow after dark. The structure, which will enclose a café, is designed to sit on several large quarry stones, giving it a sort of pagan quality.
Radic’s pavilion is designed to glow after dark. Picture: Serpentine Gallery
According to the gallery, Radic’s pavilion has its roots in his earlier work, particularly The Castle of the Selfish Giant, inspired by the Oscar Wilde story of the same name, and the Restaurant Mestizo, part of which is supported by large boulders.
The interior of Radic’s pavilion, which will contain a cafe. Picture: Serpentine Gallery
Not particularly well-known in the UK, Radic has mostly built in his native Chile, but has also undertaken projects in Japan and Australia.
The pavilion will open to the public in June and will remain in place until October.
