One of the most iconic landmarks in London during Summer is a temporary, fleeting piece of architecture: the Serpentine Galleries Pavilion has been delighting its visitors for the past fifteen years with constructions designed by some of the world’s most notable architects. Yet, for the past couple of years, the museum has decided to invite practitioners that do not easily fall within the ‘starchitect’ category. Therefore, this year’s commission was assigned to Spanish architects SelgasCano and this will be, according to the Serpentine’s rules, their first ever construction built in the UK. As the designs of the pavilion are unveiled, we know we can look forward to spending the warm months within an amorphous, double-skinned, polygonal structure consisting of panels of a translucent, multi-coloured fabric membrane woven through and wrapped in webbing. Visitors will be able to enter and exit the Pavilion at a number of different points, passing through a ‘secret corridor’ between the outer and inner layer of the structure and into the Pavilion’s brilliant, stained glass-effect interior. It looks like a very bright and appealing summer, indeed, even under cloudy London weather.
