The 2012 Serpentine Pavilion; Photo: Getty

The 2012 Serpentine Pavilion was opened to the press this morning under muted skies and damp grounds. Designed by Pritzker laureates Herzog & de Meuron and Chinese artist and dissident Ai Wei Wei, the work is the the twelfth in the series of pavilions to have graced Kensington Gardens. While the architect duo was on hand for the opening ceremony, Ai, currently barred from travelling outside his native China, was conspicuously absent, represented by a pre-recorded video message in which elaborated on the work’s conceptual “archaeology”. “We focused on memory and the past,” Ai said of the subterranean design, “We made a study to dig into the meaning of this total act and from that a very interesting result came out, which I think gives this pavilion a new meaning.”

The designers, who originally collaborated on the Bird’s Nest Olympic National Stadium in Beijing, made much of the pavilion’s excavation of the previous 11 structures that once stood on the grounds. Yet, when construction began some 2 weeks ago, the”traces” of these foundations were nowhere to be found. According to Royal Parks rules, the foundations must be cleared immediately following the closure and dismantling of the temporary pavilions, a setback that didn’t deter the architects who forged onward, completing the structure in record time.

As it stands completed, the pavilion is an understated affair, partly for its retreat below ground which renders the work nearly illegible from afar, the opposite of the fireworks show of its predecessors, best epitomized by Frank Gehry and Jean Nouvel‘s installations. A giant mirrored circular pool hovers over a fabricated landscape of cork riven with ledges that are formed by the intersection and overlapping of the virtual foundations. The jagged platform steps down toward a stage where the press convened for the proceedings. Herzog & de Meuron expressed pleasure with the finished pavilion, with the former explaining that the structure’s subdued presence was intentional. “We are in a beautiful park, and you don’t want here an object that’s crying, ’Look, I’m the pavilion of 2012.’”

The 2012 Serpentine Pavilion opens to the public June 1.

Herzog & de Meuron at the press opening of their pavilion

Photo: Iwan Baan, via

Photo: Iwan Baan

Photo: Iwan Baan

Photo: Iwan Baan

Photo: Iwan Baan

by Samuel Medina

posted in Uncategorized

tagged 2012 Serpentine Pavilion, Ai Wei Wei, herzog & de meuron, london, london 2012, pavilion

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