Spanish architecture studio SelgasCano’s colourful Serpentine Pavilion in London’s Kensington Gardens is to open this week.
It is the fifteenth incarnation of the pavilion commission, with different architects creating a temporary structure outside the Serpentine Gallery every year. The aim is to both celebrate innovative designs in contemporary architecture and provide a space for people to meet and experience live events.
Led by husband-and-wife duo José Selgas and Lucía Cano, SelgasCano’s amorphous, double-skinned, polygonal structure consists of panels of a translucent, multi-coloured fluorine-based polymer (ETFE) woven through and wrapped like webbing.
The pavilion features numerous entry and exit points, as well as a ‘secret corridor’ between the outer and inner layer of the structure and into its stained glass-effect interior.
“We sought a way to allow the public to experience architecture through simple elements: structure, light, transparency, shadows, lightness, form, sensitivity, change, surprise, colour and materials,” said the architects.
“The spatial qualities of the pavilion only unfold when accessing the structure and being immersed within it. Each entrance allows for a specific journey through the space, characterised by colour, light and irregular shapes with surprising volumes.”
The Serpentine Pavilion is open to the public from 25 June until 18 October 2015.