As every year since 2000, a temporary pavilion will appear in front of the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens in London, designed by an architect who has not yet built anything in England. The first participant in the program was Zaha Hadid: she opened a line of "star" participants, which, in the spirit of the times, was replaced several years ago by a list of promising young radicals. Junya Ishigami, like Bjarke Ingels in 2016, is out of this line: he has been implementing projects all over the world for a long time; 2019. He was also noted in Russia: in 2008 he became a laureate of the Yakov Chernikhov International Prize, and in 2011 he won a competition for the reconstruction of the Moscow Polytechnic Museum.
His project for London is a massive slate roof on thin pillars. As Ishigami explains, the roof is the most common architectural component in the world. He also uses his philosophy of "free space", where harmony is found between natural and man-made. The roof seems to be a rocky hill growing out of the ground, while it hovers above it, as if it were made of thin fabric: according to the author, such an unexpected combination became the basis of the project.
The pavilion will open on June 20, 2019 and will stay on the park lawn until October 6. Then it, like all the previous ones, will be sold at a charity auction. During the day, there will be a café inside, and families with children will be able to participate in educational programs on architecture. Concerts and discussions are planned in the evening. This year, the Serpentine Gallery is holding an international architectural competition in collaboration with David Adjaye: its results will be presented at the opening of the pavilion.
