Serpentine Pavilion 2013-2015

2015: selgascano

Just out of the blue I decided to go to the pavilion at 6 am on Sunday to have a quick look at this year’s pavilion. It was not a planned visit so I only had my mobile phone to take photos with.

A few photos from the last two pavilions are also added below.

 

2014: Smiljan Radić

2013: Sou Fujimoto

Serpentine Pavilion 2012 Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei

So I finally went to go to this year’s pavilion to take some photos and see how it compares to the other past pavilions. All in all I think it was ok but nowhere near as good as last year’s Zumthor effort.

The design is essentially made up from tracings from previous pavilions and the basic idea was to have a kind of sunken space that reveals the history of the site, almost like an archaeological excavation. Internally, the space is made from cork and is carved to create stepped seating areas all over the place. Above is a large disc which sits slightly off centre with water pool on top.

I sat there for a while to see how people were reacting to it and using it. On the whole it seemed like they were mostly confused, not exactly sure where to sit. The oval shape creates a space that looks inwards so no views to anything outside. People, therefore, predictably were sitting there watching each other. I suppose if you had a person sitting somewhere in the middle giving a talk then it would work better. I think it’s something they’re planning to do later on.

Also, on this sunny day, the space underneath was really dark. There were lights attached to the bottom of the disc that covers the pavilion that helped a bit. I don’t know if they were part of the initial design but to me they looked like an afterthought.

As I was about to leave I heard someone stumble on the opposite end of where I was sitting. It was an old man, probably in his 80’s. Some people next to him went to help him up. As he got up, after a good few minutes, he turned to them and said, “too many steps”.

I did enjoy being there but I think what he said summed it up pretty well.

Short video I took with my mobile phone.