Serpentine Gallery Pavilion / Zaha Hadid / 2000

The first Serpentine Gallery Pavilion was designed by Zaha

Hadid in 2000, which the gallery commissioned as a one-off
project to host a fundraising gala marking its 30th anniversary.
Initially, the structure was going to be taken
down after just one night, but Peyton-Jones
was able to convince former member of
parliament Chris Smith, secretary of state for
culture, media and sport at the time, to let
the gallery keep it up for longer.
Hadid's pavilion consisted of a series of large
white triangular panels supported by a steel
frame. Inside, Hadid designed bespoke black,
white and grey tables.
Hadid's pavilion consisted of a series of large
white triangular panels supported by a steel
frame. Inside, Hadid designed bespoke black,
white and grey tables.
The Serpentine Gallery went on to commission a different
architect to create a pavilion each year, offering them the chance
to create their first built structure in England
Daniel Libeskind / 2001
Daniel Libeskind's angular
metal pavilion from 2001,
which she likens to a folded
paper sculpture.
Polish-American architect Libeskind designed the second
Serpentine Gallery pavilion in 2001. Called Eighteen Turns, the
structure was made from sheets of aluminium, riveted together to
create a continuous form that seemingly folded over itself.
"It was like a piece of origami, The design was very clear, very
simple, but in its own way very complicated. Eighteen Turns was
a brilliant description of what it was."
Libeskind worked with engineering firm Arup to
create the pavilion. The structure was designed and
constructed within three months – half the time that
architects of subsequent pavilions have had to work
with.

It took less than 20 days to erect the pavilion. It

was designed to be flat-packed so it could be easily
reconstructed on other sites. This became an
important part of the brief for subsequent pavilions,
which the gallery tries to sell each year to raise
funds.
Libeskind's pavilion was bought by property developer Cite. In
2005 it was re-erected at Fota House in Cork, Ireland, during the
city's tenure as European Capital of Culture.
Toyo Ito and Cecil Balmond / 2002
Japanese architect Toyo Ito design the gallery's 2002 summer
pavilion.
Initially, when asked to follow on
from Zaha Hadid and Daniel Libeskind to
design a structure for the gallery in
Kensington Gardens, Ito proposed using
a pre-existing pavilion he had designed
for Bruges to celebrate the Belgian city's
tenure as European Capital of Culture.
 Ito designed a pavilion together with artist and structural
engineer Cecil Balmond and engineering firm Arup. The structure
consisted of a series of triangular and trapezoid forms, which
were generated by an algorithm developed by Balmond.
 Ito designed a pavilion together with artist and structural engineer Cecil Balmond and engineering firm Arup. The structure
consisted of a series of triangular and trapezoid forms, which were generated by an algorithm developed by Balmond.
Peyton-Jones says that, although budget constraints meant the
finishes weren't of the highest quality, the strength of the design
ensured the pavilion was an instant hit.
Oscar Niemeyer / 2003
Niemeyer's 2003 Serpentine Gallery pavilion consisted of a white
tent-shaped structure made from steel, aluminium, concrete and
glass, which visitors could enter via a bright red ramp at the front.
The tent-like form of Niemeyer's pavilion rested on a narrow
glass box housing a partly submerged auditorium, which gave
the impression that the external structure was floating off the
ground.
Like previous architects, Niemeyer also designed the furniture
inside the pavilion.
Niemeyer's 2003 Serpentine Gallery pavilion consisted of a white
tent-shaped structure made from steel, aluminium, concrete and
glass, which visitors could enter via a bright red ramp at the front.
MVRDV / 2004
Artificial mountain MVRDV proposed for the 2004 Serpentine
Gallery Pavilion, which eventually proved too expensive to build.
Since the Serpentine Gallery's pavilion programme began in
2000, the gallery has built a new structure on its lawn in
Kensington Gardens every year except one.

In 2004, Dutch architecture firm MVRDV was invited to design a

pavilion, but the huge artificial mountain they proposed to
construct over the gallery was never built.
Visitors would have been able to walk up and down MVRDV's
proposed structure, as well as entering inside to visit the gallery
within it.
"MVRDV were the youngest practice that we had commissioned
up to that time and they came up with a scheme that was
amazing and brave audacious and grand," Peyton-Jones says.
"It was the first time that the architects really wanted to obliterate
the gallery."
Alvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura / 2005
Álvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura teamed up with
engineer Cecil Balmond, who was then working for Arup, to
design the 2005 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion.
The Portuguese architects' structure featured a large, column-
free wooden canopy based on a simple rectangular grid, which
was distorted to create an undulating form.
Altering the grid to create a more varied form made the canopy
significantly harder to construct.

"Each element of the canopy was unique," she says. "On the
face of it, it looked really very simple. But, of course, behind it lay
a hugely complicated series of decisions and mathematics and
equations."
Arup engineer Balmond was tasked with
making the design buildable. Unlike the
previous year, when MVDRV's proposed
artificial moutain was cancelled because
of rising costs, Siza and Souto de
Moura's pavilion was successfuly
completed.
"Cecil's contribution was to translate the
design into something that we could
realise on the lawn," Peyton-Jones
explains. "He created extremely
complicated software for the design of
the canopy.“

The canopy was built from a series of

interlocking timber beams, the first time
wood was used to construct a Serpentine
Gallery Pavilion.
The gaps in the grid were filled in with panels of polycarbonate,
each of which hosted a cylindrical lamp, giving the structure a
spiky look on the outside.
Inside, Siza and Souto de Moura's pavilion featured a
simple cafe and seating area.
Here, the gallery hosted the first Park Nights – a series of music,
film, dance and literature performances – which went on to
become an important consideration for the design of future
pavilions.
Rem Koolhaas / 2006
The 2006 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, designed by Dutch
architect Rem Koolhaas of OMA with Cecil Balmond and
engineering firm Arup, featured a giant helium-filled canopy.
The balloon-like form was lowered
when the weather was bad to avoid
it getting damaged by strong winds.
But the canopy extended above the
roof of the Serpentine Gallery when
it was fully inflated on fine days.
The canopy and the solid facade of the structure were made
from translucent plastic, allowing natural light to filter into the
auditorium housed within the pavilion. Lights inside caused it to
glow at night.

Inside, the auditorium featured a frieze by Thomas Demand to

coincide with an exhibition of the photographer's work at the
gallery.

"That year was incredibly important because there was an artistic

link between the pavilion and the gallery," Peyton-Jones says.
Olafur Eliasson and Kjetil Thoresen / 2007
Danish-Icelandic artist Eliasson and Norwegian architect Thorsen
ofSnøhetta collaborated to design the Serpentine Gallery
Pavilion in 2007.
"It's the only time an artist has been involved in designing the
pavilion," says Peyton-Jones in the movie. "We wanted to
broaden out the selection to see if by introducing an artist there
would be a different kind of view on the whole project. Of course,
there was."
Eliasson and Thorsen created a timber-clad structure with a
ramp spiralling around the outside.

The sides of the ramp featured a series of white louvres made

from twisted cord, but were otherwise open so that visitors could
look out onto the park as they walked up.
Eliasson and Thorsen's pavilion was also the first to feature more
than one storey. The ramp led visitors to the central auditorium
on the first level and then continued up to a viewing platform at
the top.
The auditorium itself, which hosted a programme of talks and
other events, was bowl-shaped. Tiers of seats descended down
to a central platform in the base of the pavilion.
"At the top, the pavilion was the height of the Serpentine Gallery,
but there was also a great central well where people had their
coffees and their teas, which was a very different kind of
dynamic," Peyton-Jones explains.
Frank Gehry / 2008
Frank Gehry's 2008 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion consisted of four
wood-clad steel columns, which supported a series of large
timber planks and beams.
Part-amphitheatre, part-
promenade, the pavilion
featured terraced seating
along two sides of a
central avenue that led
up to the front of the
Serpentine Gallery.
Despite being one of the world's most celebrated architects,
Gehry has never completed a building in London. Peyton-Jones
says that being able to show the work of great architects in the
city – albeit temporarily – is a key strength of the pavilion
programme.
SANAA 2009
Reflective aluminium Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, created by
Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa
of SANAA in 2009
Sejima and Nishizawa's pavilion in 2009 featured a canopy made
from aluminium-faced plywood floating on hundreds of slender
stainless steel columns.
The canopy, which was shaped to curve around
trees on the site, was polished on both sides so
that it reflected the park when viewed from below
and the sky from above.

The sides of the pavilion were completely open,

apart from a series of curved walls made of
transparent acrylic, which created a semi-enclosed
space under one section of the canopy to host the
cafe and auditorium.
Jean Nouvel / 2010
Jean Nouvel's bright red paviliont hat featured a dramatic 12-metre-high angled wall.
The world-famous French architect's 2010 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion consisted of bold geometric forms rendered in a vivid red
colour reminiscent of traditional London buses, telephone boxes and postboxes.
"Jean Nouvel was the first architect to really use colour, That
searing pillar box red was remarkable, and the visual resonance
against the green of the park highlighted how gorgeous the
setting is."
Made from a steel frame clad with translucent materials, the pavilion featured retractable canvas awnings, as
well as a huge sloped glass wall supported in cantilever on one side.
Visitors to the pavilion were invited to play chess or drafts inside the structure, or enjoy a game of table tennis or Frisbee on the
lawn outsid
Visitors to the pavilion were invited to play chess or drafts inside the structure, or enjoy a game of table tennis
or Frisbee on the lawn outsid
Peter Zumthor / 2011
Swiss architect Peter Zumthor ‘s 2011 black, rectangular pavilion enclosed a planted garden by Dutch landscape designer Piet
Oudolf filled with flowers and shrubs.
"Peter Zumthor designed an extraordinary interior space,"
Serpentine Gallery director Peyton-Jones says in the movie. "He
had been thinking for some time about this whole notion of the
hortus conclusus – the enclosed garden."
Zumthor's pavilion consisted of a timber structure covered in gauze and painted black, which visitors could enter via
three openings on each of the longer sides.

On entering the pavilion, visitors were channeled through a dark, narrow corridor around the perimeter of the
structure, before emerging into the garden at the centre.

The inner garden was surrounded by a long bench, protected by a canopy that projected inwards from the walls.
Unlike previous pavilions, which contained auditoriums for talks and performances, Peyton-Jones says Zumthor
wanted his pavilion to be a place of quiet reflection.
"Peter was very keen that if we did any speeches – including for the opening – there should be no
microphones, it should just be about the experience of being there,"
Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei / 2012
Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei teamed up
in 2012 to create a sunken pavilion that rose
just 1.5 metres above ground level.
The base of the structure descended beneath the lawn of
Kensington Gardens, where the soil had been removed to reveal
the imagined foundations of previous pavilions built on the site.
"It became a kind of excavation, where they dug down to into the garden. What they did was a
kind of homage to all the other pavilions."
The pavilion also featured a circular pool, which formed the roof of the structure. It was supported by a series
of twelve cork-lined columns, which represented the twelve pavilions that had been built on the site up to that
point.
Sou Fujimoto / 2013
The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 is designed by multi award-winning Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto. He is the thirteenth
and, at 41, the youngest architect to accept the invitation to design a temporary structure for the Serpentine Gallery. The most
ambitious architectural programme of its kind worldwide, the Serpentine’s annual Pavilion commission is one of the most
anticipated events on the cultural calendar.
Occupying some 357 square-metres of lawn in front of the Serpentine Gallery, Sou Fujimoto’s delicate, latticed structure
of 20mm steel poles has a lightweight and semi-transparent appearance that allows it to blend, cloud-like, into the
landscape against the classical backdrop of the Gallery’s colonnaded East wing. Designed as a flexible, multi-purpose
social space – with a café run for the first time by Fortnum and Mason inside – visitors will be encouraged to enter and
interact with the Pavilion in different ways throughout its four-month tenure in London's Kensington Gardens.
"I tried to create something melting
into the green"- Sou Fujimoto
"I tried to create something melting
into the green"- Sou Fujimoto
"From the beginning I didn't think 'I'd like to make a
cloud'," says Fujimoto, explaining how he tried to
design a structure that would fit in with its
surroundings. "I was impressed by the beautiful
surroundings of Kensington Garden, the beautiful
green, so I tried to create something that was melting
into the green."
"Of course the structure should be artificial so I tried to create something between architecture and nature; that
kind of concept has been a big interest in my career so it is really natural to push forward with that concept for
the future,"
Smiljan Radić / 2014
Chilean architect Radić created a translucent, cylindrical
pavilionconstructed from thin layers of white fibreglass,
reminiscent of papier mache wrapped around a balloon.
Model making was an important part of Radić's design
process, Peyton-Jones says, recalling a particular
model she saw at his studio made from paper Burda
sewing patterns.

There was one model covered in patterns for making

dresses, and this became the basis of the pavilion that
we then built on the lawn.
Visitors entered the structure via a raised walkway, which led up
from the ground in front of the gallery to a small cafe and seating
area inside the pavilion.
Once inside, visitors could look out onto the surrounding park
through a series of openings cut out of the fibreglass structure,
including a protruding metal balcony on the front of the pavilion.
"Even though it was so small, there were different experiences within it,"
José Selgas and Lucía Cano / 2015
Salgas-Cano pavilion consists of two layers of coloured ETFE
(Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene) plastic wrapped around a white
steel frame.
"The whole pavilion for us was a kind of experiment. We wanted to test
different things with a new material, in this case ETFE. We wanted to
try out [how the material could create] different shadows, colours and
effects, which we haven't tested before. We decided to play with the
ETFE in many ways," Selgas says. "We created different effects by
exploring what the possibilities are when you keep the transparency, or
if you add different mirror effects."
Some parts of SelgasCano's structure are
covered with large sheets of coloured ETFE,
while other areas feature strips of the material
wrapped around the steel frame. The Madrid-
based architects also chose to vary the opacity
of the material across the skin of the pavilion.
"We decided to play with the ETFE in many
ways," Selgas says. "We created different
effects by exploring what the possibilities are
when you keep the transparency, or if you add
different mirror effects."
The layers of coloured plastic cast multicoloured
patterns across the floor of the pavilion when the sun
shines.
"The most important colour for us is the colour of the
floor,It was very important for it to be white to get all the
effects from the roof."
The structure consists of four arms, which branch off from a
central area housing a bar and meeting space. Selgas says this
form evolved organically as the architects experimented with how
the ETFE sheets could be stretched across the steel frame.
"People ask us why we chose this shape," Selgas says. "But the
shape comes from trying to stretch the material as much as
possible."
There are multiple entrances and exits to the pavilion and no
prescribed route through the structure. Selgas says he is keen to
see how people use the space.

"The experiment is also very much related to the people that are
going to visit the pavilion," he says. "We want them to decide
how to interpret the pavilion, how they want to move around. It's
very free in that way."
Bjarke Ingels / 2016
Bjarke Ingels' firm BIG has unveiled its design for this
year's Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, featuring a tall pointed
structure made of interlocking fibreglass "bricks".
The Danish architect's design for this year's pavilion was
imagined as solid wall that has been "unzipped" to create a
three-dimensional space.
It will be made from a series of box-like fibreglass frames
stacked on top of each other, in a pattern based on a common
brick wall.
The wall of fibreglass blocks splits to create a curved opening to
the pavilion with jagged edges.
"We have attempted to design a structure that embodies multiple
aspects that are often perceived as opposites: a structure that is
free-form yet rigorous, modular yet sculptural, both transparent
and opaque, both solid box and blob," said Ingels.
"This unzipping of the wall turns the line into a surface,
transforming the wall into a space," he added. "At the
top, the wall appears like a straight line, while at the
bottom, it forms a sheltered valley at the entrance of the
pavilion and an undulating hillside towards the park."