Serpentine Pavilion 2019 - Press Launch
Junya Ishigami’s 2019 Serpentine pavilion was unveiled to the press earlier today. Drawing inspiration from nature, the architect is famous for his poetic and gravity-defying structures. Part structure, part landscape, Ishigami’s pavilion comprises a slender, wing-like canopy of Cumbrian slate effortlessly supported by 106 thin steel legs.
The illusion of effortlessness belies the challenging engineering concealed within the canopy. The steel frame is nearly six times lighter than the slate it supports and its fabrication utilised the best of our digital manufacturing capabilities. Find out more about how we manufactured and built the pavilion, here.
Ishigami told the Evening Standard: “Nature is full of highly complicated systems,” he says, “but you never see them. I like that mystery. That’s what I want in my buildings.”
This is the eleventh pavilion we’ve manufactured and installed for the Serpentine Gallery. We are immensely proud of our work on these commissions and of the tenacity and skill of our workshop teams, CAD team and site crew in delivering each of the diverse structures since 2009.
The pavilion opens to the public on 21st June.