Each year, our friends at the Serpentine Gallery commission international architects and artists of worldwide acclaim to design a pavilion on the gallery’s lawn that provides a unique and temporary showcase for contemporary architectural work. Throughout the duration, the pavilion plays host to special programs of film screenings, talks and our favorite, the annual summer future contemporaries party.
The 2011 Pavilion by architect Peter Zumthor
The list of previous participants includes many well known names from Frank Gehry to Zaha Hadid. This year, Internationally acclaimed contemporary artist and architect Ai Weiwei will be teaming up with Herzog and De Muron with whom he collaborated on in designing the renown "Birds Nest" Beijing National Stadium, built for the 2008 Olympic Games
This year’s Pavilion will take visitors beneath the Serpentine’s lawn to explore the hidden history of its previous Pavilions. Eleven columns characterizing each past Pavilion and a twelfth column will support a floating platform roof 1.5 meters above ground. Taking an archaeological approach, the architects have created a design that will inspire visitors to look beneath the surface of the park as well as back in time across the ghosts of the earlier structures.
Chinese National Stadium - Designed by Architects Herzog & De Muron
The pavilion will launch this summer, and be in place throughout the 2012 summer olympics.
Find out more about the project here