Last week I was in London for the Design Festival and I also visited the Serpentine Gallery Summer pavilion by Smiljan Radic, which is there until mid-October. I confess I had no much expectations on it, after having seen the renderings; but I have actually found it much more interesting than I supposed. The exterior maybe not exceptional but the inner space is truly engaging. I have also taken some photos, you can see them here: http://www.inexhibit.com/case-studies/2014-serpentine-galleries-summer-pavilion-smiljan-radic/
I know that, if an image is worth a 1000 words, actually visiting a building is worth a 1000 images; nevertheless I would be happy to know your opinion too.
PS: if someone thinks I am posting a spamming link because the site is mine, is warmly invited to don't go there, period
Fiberglass is such an ugly material. It's the kind of material designers seem to fall back on when they want a form without thinking too much how to build it.
If I imagine just the deck without the shell it's nice.
IMHO, the deck is a pleasant space with a good feeling from the wood paving and a nice and warm light filling the interior, people there seemed to truly enjoy it. The shell is at least -crude-, both because of the blobby shape and its plasticky appearance due to its being made in ugly fiberglass (I don't like it too). I guess the reason for adopting such material was chiefly economical. I used it in the past to build complex-shaped roof but only as a waterproofing layer below a stainless steel roof cladding; the advantage is that is cheap when organic forms are involved and that doesn't need joints or seams whatsoever; on the other hand its appearance it truly horrendous.
yeah, I agree it probably was the cheapest way to build this form quickly. The process of laminating the fiberglass sheets is usually messy and leaves uneven surfaces which don't really suit the intended effect of smoothness. And from the inside the uneven overlapping surfaces result in uneven strips of shadow that distract from the idea of a clean shell. Parts of it look like they were taped together.
If it's thought out well the substructure needed to frame complex forms can enrich the final effect. Zaha Hadid's office did a pavilion in Chicago a few years ago which was just a blob shape, but the framing ribs created a really pretty pattern. It seemed pretty successful at balancing the ideal of a smooth form with the reality of being something built of real materials. If a design is going to focus on form, it's got to go all the way and be perfect, or embrace the expression of how it's built and supported.
My favorite part from the photos you posted are the angled struts attached to the interior of the shell - it seems like they hold it down against being blown off by winds. The long linear lighting track is neat too.
Agree, many don't like Hadid's style but for sure she is a master on such kind of structures (i.e. the neat construction of the Serpentine Sackler's addition nearby or the Chanel pavilion I saw in Paris some years ago). I guess too that the hinged struts were added to give the shell the required stiffness and resistance to wind loads (the fiberglass thickness is roughly one centimetre or so); they are probably connected to some of the deck steel beams underneath you can see in the last image.
I like it, as much as I like many other buildings by Smiljan Radic, and I'm sure the crudeness of the fibreglass shell is intentional. A lot of the best contemporary Chilean architecture (WMR, Radic, some Pezo von Ellrichshausen) has a sort of 'handmade' quality to it. Maybe this is partly a result of unskilled labour - although I think I've read that Radic used a hand-picked team for the Serpentine Pavillion - but it gives a material presence that a perfectly seamless eggshell with impeccably welded framing ribs would completely lack.
@A-F, looking into it more I'll admit I misread Radic's intent. The roughness is definitely an intentional part of it. I'm still going to insist fiberglass is ugly, but as an experiment it's worthwhile. The renderings clearly showed it being rough. Btw I love his ascetic robes in the article's photo - he really dresses the part for this cave-space.
Quondam - interesting quote. I've never personally liked soft architecture: tents, yurts, PTFE canopies, etc. I never considered that this is because I'm a man. They just seem flimsy, unspatial to me, like being in a rubber raft. As to whether this experiment in rough fiberglass portends a trend - maybe. Maybe it is actually time for smoothness to go out of style. Brutalism seems to be becoming fashionable again, in the UK anyway. I can see this sort of rough materiality being a renewed direction of investigation for architecture.
Sep 23, 14 11:20 pm ·
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What do you think of the 2014 Serpentine Pavilion in London?
Last week I was in London for the Design Festival and I also visited the Serpentine Gallery Summer pavilion by Smiljan Radic, which is there until mid-October. I confess I had no much expectations on it, after having seen the renderings; but I have actually found it much more interesting than I supposed. The exterior maybe not exceptional but the inner space is truly engaging. I have also taken some photos, you can see them here: http://www.inexhibit.com/case-studies/2014-serpentine-galleries-summer-pavilion-smiljan-radic/
I know that, if an image is worth a 1000 words, actually visiting a building is worth a 1000 images; nevertheless I would be happy to know your opinion too.
PS: if someone thinks I am posting a spamming link because the site is mine, is warmly invited to don't go there, period
Thank you for posting. The interior is much more engaging than the shell.
The following descriptive words come to mind:
Ugly
Crass
Contrived
Self-indulgent
Sophomoric
Narcissistic
Pointless
Inhumane
Insane
Don't like it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folly
Shudda stopped after positioning the boulders. Kids might have actually enjoyed playing around the site.
Also, it was better on TV the first time:
Fiberglass is such an ugly material. It's the kind of material designers seem to fall back on when they want a form without thinking too much how to build it.
If I imagine just the deck without the shell it's nice.
IMHO, the deck is a pleasant space with a good feeling from the wood paving and a nice and warm light filling the interior, people there seemed to truly enjoy it. The shell is at least -crude-, both because of the blobby shape and its plasticky appearance due to its being made in ugly fiberglass (I don't like it too). I guess the reason for adopting such material was chiefly economical. I used it in the past to build complex-shaped roof but only as a waterproofing layer below a stainless steel roof cladding; the advantage is that is cheap when organic forms are involved and that doesn't need joints or seams whatsoever; on the other hand its appearance it truly horrendous.
yeah, I agree it probably was the cheapest way to build this form quickly. The process of laminating the fiberglass sheets is usually messy and leaves uneven surfaces which don't really suit the intended effect of smoothness. And from the inside the uneven overlapping surfaces result in uneven strips of shadow that distract from the idea of a clean shell. Parts of it look like they were taped together.
If it's thought out well the substructure needed to frame complex forms can enrich the final effect. Zaha Hadid's office did a pavilion in Chicago a few years ago which was just a blob shape, but the framing ribs created a really pretty pattern. It seemed pretty successful at balancing the ideal of a smooth form with the reality of being something built of real materials. If a design is going to focus on form, it's got to go all the way and be perfect, or embrace the expression of how it's built and supported.
My favorite part from the photos you posted are the angled struts attached to the interior of the shell - it seems like they hold it down against being blown off by winds. The long linear lighting track is neat too.
Agree, many don't like Hadid's style but for sure she is a master on such kind of structures (i.e. the neat construction of the Serpentine Sackler's addition nearby or the Chanel pavilion I saw in Paris some years ago). I guess too that the hinged struts were added to give the shell the required stiffness and resistance to wind loads (the fiberglass thickness is roughly one centimetre or so); they are probably connected to some of the deck steel beams underneath you can see in the last image.
I like it, as much as I like many other buildings by Smiljan Radic, and I'm sure the crudeness of the fibreglass shell is intentional. A lot of the best contemporary Chilean architecture (WMR, Radic, some Pezo von Ellrichshausen) has a sort of 'handmade' quality to it. Maybe this is partly a result of unskilled labour - although I think I've read that Radic used a hand-picked team for the Serpentine Pavillion - but it gives a material presence that a perfectly seamless eggshell with impeccably welded framing ribs would completely lack.
@A-F, looking into it more I'll admit I misread Radic's intent. The roughness is definitely an intentional part of it. I'm still going to insist fiberglass is ugly, but as an experiment it's worthwhile. The renderings clearly showed it being rough. Btw I love his ascetic robes in the article's photo - he really dresses the part for this cave-space.
Quondam - interesting quote. I've never personally liked soft architecture: tents, yurts, PTFE canopies, etc. I never considered that this is because I'm a man. They just seem flimsy, unspatial to me, like being in a rubber raft. As to whether this experiment in rough fiberglass portends a trend - maybe. Maybe it is actually time for smoothness to go out of style. Brutalism seems to be becoming fashionable again, in the UK anyway. I can see this sort of rough materiality being a renewed direction of investigation for architecture.
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