"For us it's a prototype. For us, a prototype means it will have another life,”
“Right now, our summer house operates at a scale of something maybe like furniture or something like a small building, but a prototype is something that has a resonance, it's something that lives beyond its four months here, that will occur on a different scale, in a different place.”
— Archinect
Barkow Leibinger's Summer House is constructed with four structural bands made from plywood and timber. The piece is grounded by a bench, then strengthened by three central curves with a double layered free flowing cantilevered roof.
The duo known for their research-led process and playful style pay tribute to the similarly playful William Kent structure that once stood on a nearby manmade hill. When in use the small structure provided panoramic views of the park while at the same time mechanically rotating 360 degrees.
The Summer House equally provides innumerable views and is particularly expressive in the changing light; continually offering new lines and shapes with the recast shadows. The surging curves are expressively fluid and trace the movements of something reminiscent of an initial sketch. An idea paused in time.
Sitting within the structure you feel part of the architectural process; a structure Frank Barlow described as, “a dialogue and a continuation”.
Archinect's U.K correspondent Robert Urquhart covered this year's Serpertine Pavilion and all the Summer Houses in depth read Urquhart's feature here.
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