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  • Serpentine Gallery...Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 by Sou Fujimoto1 Jun 2013 to 20 Oct 2013 at Serpentine Pavilion
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Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 by Sou Fujimoto

The cloud pavilion

Serpentine Pavilion

1 Jun 2013 to 20 Oct 2013

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 by Sou Fujimoto

Admission Free

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The visionary Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto designed the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013.

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'It is a really fundamental question how architecture is different from nature, or how architecture could be part of nature, or how they could be merged... what are the boundaries between nature and artificial things' - Sou Fujimoto

At 41, Fujimoto was the youngest architect to accept the invitation to create a temporary structure for the Serpentine Gallery. The Pavilion was constructed from 20mm white steel poles in an intricate latticework pattern that seemed to rise up out of the ground like a shimmering matrix. The Pavilion was intended as a free-flowing social space that Fujimoto described as “a transparent terrain”.

Fujimoto was the thirteenth architect to design the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, one of the most hotly anticipated events in the cultural calendar, and his shape-shifting structure added to an illustrious list of past pavilions designed by architects that include Herzog & de Meuron, Frank Gehry and the late Oscar Niemeyer.

Occupying some 350 square-metres of lawn in front of the Serpentine Gallery, Sou Fujimoto's delicate structure had a lightweight and semi-transparent appearance that allowed it to blend, cloud-like, into the landscape and against the classical backdrop of the gallery's colonnaded east wing. Designed as a flexible, multi-purpose social space - with a café sited inside - visitors were encouraged to enter and interact with the Pavilion in different ways throughout its four-month tenure in London's Kensington Gardens.

Describing his design concept, Sou Fujimoto said: "For the 2013 Pavilion I propose an architectural landscape: a transparent terrain that encourages people to interact with and explore the site in diverse ways. Within the pastoral context of Kensington Gardens, I envisage the vivid greenery of the surrounding plant life woven together with a constructed geometry. A new form of environment will be created, where the natural and the man-made merge; not solely architectural nor solely natural, but a unique meeting of the two".

"The Pavilion is a delicate, three-dimensional structure", he continues, "each unit of which is composed of fine steel bars. It forms a semi-transparent, irregular ring, simultaneously protecting visitors from the elements while allowing them to remain part of the landscape. The overall footprint will be 350 square-metres and the Pavilion has two entrances. A series of stepped terraces will provide seating areas that will allow the Pavilion to be used as a flexible, multi-purpose social space. The delicate quality of the structure, enhanced by its semi-transparency, will create a geometric, cloud-like form, as if it were mist rising from the undulations of the park. From certain vantage points, the Pavilion will appear to merge with the classical structure of the Serpentine Gallery, with visitors suspended in space."

On 8 June 2013, Sou Fujimoto discussed his visionary design for the 2013 Pavilion at a live event, Public Talk: Sou Fujimoto.

Fujimoto was the third Japanese architect to accept the invitation to design the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, following Toyo Ito in 2002 and Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA in 2009.

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Artist

Sou Fujimoto

Widely acknowledged as one of the most important architects coming to prominence worldwide, Sou Fujimoto is the leading light of an exciting generation of artists who are re-inventing our relationship with the built environment. Inspired by organic structures, such as the forest, the nest and the cave, Fujimoto's signature buildings inhabit a space between nature and artificiality. Fujimoto has completed the majority of his buildings in Japan, with commissions ranging from the domestic, such as Final Wooden House, T House and House N, to the institutional, such as the Musashino Art Museum and Library at Musashino Art University.

Related Events / Exhibitions

Park Nights

Serpentine Pavilion

Public Talk: Sou Fujimoto

8 Jun 2013 - 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Architect Sou Fujimoto discussed his visionary design for the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013, a delicate, cloud-like structure that experiments with immateriality and weightlessness.

View Event

Park Nights

Serpentine Pavilion

Park Nights 2013: Adam Phillips and Paul Holdengräber

26 Jul 2013 - 8:00 PM to 10:30 PM

Have you ever spent time imagining the 'other life' you could have lived? Adam Phillips and Paul Holdengräber in conversation.

View Event

Park Nights

Serpentine Pavilion

Park Nights 2013: Leslie Thornton and James Richards

27 Sep 2013 - 8:00 PM to 10:30 PM

For this Park Night, the Serpentine invited artist Leslie Thornton to screen several of her acclaimed film works, in a programme specifically created for the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 designed by Sou Fujimoto.

View Event

Park Nights

Serpentine Pavilion

Park Nights 2013: George Henry Longly's GHL

20 Sep 2013 - 8:00 PM to 10:30 PM

Artist George Henry Longly works across several media to explore issues in architecture, composition and design.

View Event

Park Nights

Serpentine Pavilion

Park Nights 2013: Russell Haswell/Yasunao Tone

6 Sep 2013 - 8:00 PM to 10:30 PM

Multidisciplinary artist Russell Haswell curated and performed an evening of sound with pioneering noise musician Yasunao Tone.

View Event

Live

Serpentine Pavilion

Saturday Talks: Lucia Pietroiusti

27 Jul 2013 - 3:00 PM

In this Saturday Talk, Public Programmes Curator Lucia Pietroiusti discusses active and passive viewership as well as appropriation in Sou Fujimoto's and STURTEVANT's practices.

View Event

Live

Saturday Talks: Sarah Ichioka

20 Jul 2013 - 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Sarah Ichioka, Director of The Architecture Foundation, talks about the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013.

View Event

Related links

Sou Fujimoto - Evening Standard profile

Sou Fujimoto Pavilion - Guardian review

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Sou Fujimoto: Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013

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Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013

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The cloud pavilion

Sou Fujimoto Serpentine Pavilion Intervention

Tuesday, 17th September 2013

Sou Fujimoto Pavilion - Dezeen film

Friday, 20th September 2013

Wallpaper: The making of Sou Fujimoto's 2013 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion

Wednesday, 8th April 2015
Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 designed by Sou Fujimoto

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 Designed by Sou Fujimoto

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 designed by Sou Fujimoto

2013
Serpentine Gallery, London (8 June – 20 October 2013)

© Sou Fujimoto Architects, Photograph © 2013 Iwan Baan

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 Designed by Sou Fujimoto

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 designed by Sou Fujimoto

2013
Serpentine Gallery, London (8 June – 20 October 2013)

© Sou Fujimoto Architects, Photograph © 2013 Iwan Baan

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 Designed by Sou Fujimoto

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 designed by Sou Fujimoto

2013
Serpentine Gallery, London (8 June – 20 October 2013)

© Sou Fujimoto Architects, Photograph © 2013 Jim Stephenson

E. Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 Designed by Sou Fujimoto

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 designed by Sou Fujimoto

2013
Serpentine Gallery, London (8 June – 20 October 2013)

© Sou Fujimoto Architects, Photograph © 2013 Jim Stephenson

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 designed by Sou Fujimoto lit at night

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 designed by Sou Fujimoto

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 designed by Sou Fujimoto

2013
Serpentine Gallery, London (8 June – 20 October 2013)

© Sou Fujimoto Architects, Photograph © 2013 Iwan Baan

Construction of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013

Construction of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013

Construction of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013

Photograph © 2013 Jim Stephenson

Model for Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013

Model for Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013

Model for Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013

© Sou Fujimoto Architects

Sou Fujimoto Architects office

Sou Fujimoto Architects office, 2013

© Sou Fujimoto Architects

Sou Fujimoto pavilion concept sketch

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 designed by Sou Fujimoto
Concept Sketch

© Sou Fujimoto Architects

Featured Image: 

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 designed by Sou Fujimoto

Serpentine Gallery, London (8 June – 20 October 2013)

© Sou Fujimoto Architects, Photograph © 2013 Iwan Baan

  • Serpentine Gallery...Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 by Sou Fujimoto1 Jun 2013 to 20 Oct 2013 at Serpentine Pavilion
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Lee Ufan: Relatum - Stage
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Sondra Perry: Typhoon coming on

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Ian Cheng: Emissaries
Exhibition

Ian Cheng: Emissaries

Tuesday, 24th April 2018 to Monday, 28th May 2018
Admission Free
Serpentine Gallery
Lee Ufan: Relatum - Stage
Exhibition

Lee Ufan: Relatum - Stage

Tuesday, 6th February 2018 to Sunday, 29th July 2018
Admission Free
Serpentine Sculpture Commission

Ongoing

Sondra Perry: Typhoon coming on
Exhibition

Sondra Perry: Typhoon coming on

Tuesday, 6th March 2018 to Sunday, 20th May 2018
Admission Free
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Ian Cheng: Emissaries
Exhibition

Ian Cheng: Emissaries

Tuesday, 24th April 2018 to Monday, 28th May 2018
Admission Free
Serpentine Gallery
Lee Ufan: Relatum - Stage
Exhibition

Lee Ufan: Relatum - Stage

Tuesday, 6th February 2018 to Sunday, 29th July 2018
Admission Free
Serpentine Sculpture Commission
Visit Ian Cheng’s Emissaries livestream

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