Chilean architect Smiljan Radic has been chosen to design this year’s Serpentine Galleries Pavilion with an unusual proposal inspired by an Oscar Wilde short story.
The architect’s vision stems from a structure featured in Oscar Wilde’s short story, the
Castle of the Selfish Giant, which was originally published in 1888.
Radic has proposed designs that will see a fibreglass pavilion, spaced over 350sq m and sculpted to look like a shell, sitting on a platform of large quarry stones.
The pavillion is being designed to provide flexibility to ensure multiple uses, with guests also being provided with a cafe situated inside the structure.
Visitors will also be able to make use of a specially curated Galleries’ Park Nights series, which will explore art, poetry, music, film, literature and theory on certain evenings throughout the summer.
AECOM has been appointed to provide engineering and technical design services for the project for the second year, after a successful debut in 2013.
In addition, AECOM will also be acting as a cost and project manager for the operation, which is to feature co-headline sponsorship from J.P. Morgan Private Bank.
“The Serpentine 2014 Pavilion is part of the history of small romantic constructions seen in parks or large gardens, the so-called follies, which were hugely popular from the end of the 16th Century to the start of the 19th,” Radic said of the project.
“Externally, the visitor will see a fragile shell suspended on large quarry stones. This shell, white, translucent and made of fibreglass, will house an interior organised around an empty patio, from where the natural setting will appear lower, giving the sensation that the entire volume is floating.
“At night, thanks to the semi-transparency of the shell, the amber tinted light will attract the attention of passers-by like lamps attracting moths.”
The 48-year-old designer will become one of the youngest creatives to work on the project since its inception in 2000.
The pavilion is due to open on 26 June and will remain in Kensington Gardens until 19 October.
