Serpentine Gallery: Park Nights
Building the Pavilion
Building the Pavilion offers a unique insight into the conception and construction of the Serpentine Gallery 2012 Pavilion, designed by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei, and shows the European pair discuss their ideas.
The 2012 Pavilion was the 12th annual commission, which invites internationally renowned architects to build a temporary structure on the lawn in Kensington Gardens, in central London.
The series presents the work of an international architect or design team who has not completed a building in England at the time of the gallery’s invitation.
The memory of past pavilions was recalled in the form the 2012 structure, which invites visitors beneath the Serpentine Gallery’s lawn to explore their hidden histories. The undulating landscape of the pavilion was designed by overlaying the footprints of the previous pavilions, with each column echoing an architectural element of a former commission.
The 2012 Pavilion is Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei’s first UK collaboration, providing the opportunity for the design team responsible for the celebrated Beijing National Stadium, built for the 2008 Olympic Games, to work together again in London’s Olympic year.
You can see the rest of the films in the Serpentine Gallery’s Park Nights series by clicking here.