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30/6/2011

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2011

Serpentine Gallery, London

The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2011 is designed by world-renowned Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. This year’s Pavilion is the 11th commission in the Gallery’s annual series, the world’s first and most ambitious architectural programme of its kind. It is the architect’s first completed building in the UK and includes a specially created garden by the influential Dutch designer Piet Oudolf.

At the heart of Peter Zumthor’s Pavilion is a garden that the architect hopes will inspire visitors to become observers. Zumthor says his design ‘aims to help its audience take the time to relax, to observe and then, perhaps, start to talk again - maybe not.’ The design emphasises the role the senses and emotions play in our experience of architecture. With a refined selection of materials Zumthor creates contemplative spaces that evoke the spiritual dimension of our physical environment. As always, Zumthor’s aesthetic goal is to customise the building precisely to its purpose as a physical body and an object of emotional experience. Zumthor has stated that ‘the concept for this year’s Pavilion is the hortus conclusus, a contemplative room, a garden within a garden. The building acts as a stage, a backdrop for the interior garden of flowers and light. Through blackness and shadow one enters the building from the lawn and begins the transition into the central garden, a place abstracted from the world of noise and traffic and the smells of London – an interior space within which to sit, to walk, to observe the flowers. This experience will be intense and memorable, as will the materials themselves – full of memory and time.’

Materials have always played an evocative as well as an essential role in the buildings designed by Zumthor. The 2011 Pavilion is constructed of a lightweight timber frame wrapped with scrim and coated with a black Idenden over scrim. Exterior and interior walls with staggered doorways offer multiple paths for visitors to follow, gently guiding them to a central, hidden inner garden. The covered walkways and seating surrounding this central space create a serene, contemplative environment from which visitors look onto the richly planted sunlit garden, the heart and focus of the building.

With this Pavilion, as with previous structures such as the famous Thermal Baths at Vals, Switzerland, or the Bruder Klaus Chapel in Mechernich, Germany, Zumthor has emphasised the sensory and spiritual aspects of the architectural experience, from the precise yet simple composition and ‘presence’ of the materials, to the handling of scale and the effect of light. Piet Oudolf is a prominent garden designer and a leading figure of the New Perennial planting movement. His award-winning designs emphasise the natural architecture of plants, using expressive drifts of grasses and herbaceous perennials to create gardens that evolve in form throughout the lives of the plants. These are chosen for their structure, form, texture and colour, showcasing many different varieties in his compositions. Oudolf has pioneered an approach to gardening that embraces the full life-cycle of plants, delighting in their beauty throughout the seasons.

Piet Oudolf said: “I am very pleased to be collaborating with Peter Zumthor and the Serpentine Gallery on this year’s Pavilion and to be part of this exciting project. My work aims to bring nature back into human surroundings and this Pavilion provides the perfect opportunity for people to reflect and relax in a contemplative garden away from the busy metropolis.”

The Serpentine’s Pavilion commission, conceived in 2000 by Gallery Director Julia Peyton- Jones, has become an international site for architectural experimentation and follows a decade of Pavilions by some of the world’s greatest architects. Each Pavilion is sited on the Gallery’s lawn for three months and the immediacy of the commission – a maximum of six months from invitation to completion – provides a unique model worldwide.

Julia Peyton-Jones, Director, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director, Serpentine Gallery, said: “It is an honour and a great joy to be working with Peter Zumthor on the 11th Serpentine Gallery Pavilion. The commission allows us to connect with the best architects in the world and each year is an exciting and completely new experience. Zumthor’s plans will realise an exquisite space for the public to enjoy throughout the summer.”

Zumthor’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion will operate as a public space and as a venue for Park Nights, the Gallery’s high-profile programme of public talks and events. Park Nights will culminate in the annual Serpentine Gallery Marathon in October, now in its sixth year. In 2006 the Park Nights programme included the renowned 24-hour Serpentine Gallery Interview Marathon, convened by Hans Ulrich Obrist and architect Rem Koolhaas; in 2007, the Serpentine Gallery Experiment Marathon presented by artist Olafur Eliasson and Hans Ulrich Obrist; in 2008, Obrist led over 60 participants in the Serpentine Gallery Manifesto Marathon. These were followed in 2009 by the Serpentine Gallery Poetry Marathon and in 2010 by the Serpentine Gallery Map Marathon.

Biographies

Peter Zumthor
Born in Basel in 1943, grew up in Oberwil, Baselland, married to Annalisa Zumthor-Cuorad. Children: Anna Katharina, Peter Conradin and Jon Paulin Zumthor. Trained as cabinetmaker, 1958-62, at the shop of his father Oscar Zumthor, and as designer and architect, at the Kunstgewerbeschule Basel, 1963-67, Vorkurs und Fachklasse, as well as at the Pratt Institute, New York.
As from 1967, employment as building and planning consultant and inventarisator of historical villages with the Department for the Preservation of Monuments, Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland; in addition the realisation of some renovations. In 1979, establishes his own architectural practice in Haldenstein, Switzerland. Visiting professor at Southern California Institute of Architecture, SCI-ARC, Los Angeles, 1988; at the Technische Universität Munich, 1989, and at the Graduate School of Design, GSD, Harvard University, Boston, 1999. 1996-2008 professor at the Accademia di architettura, Università della Svizzera italiana, Mendrisio.
Important buildings: Zumthor Studio, Haldenstein, Switzerland, 1986; Protective Housing for Roman Archaeological Excavations, Chur, Switzerland, 1986; Sogn Benedetg Chapel, Sumvitg, Switzerland, 1988; Homes for Senior Citizens, Chur, Masans, Switzerland, 1993; Gugalun House, Versam, Switzerland, 1994; Spittelhof Estate, Biel-Benken, Switzerland, 1996; Therme Vals, Switzerland, 1996; Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria, 1997; Swiss Sound Box, Swiss Pavilion Expo 2000, Hanover, Germany, 2000; House Luzi, Jenaz, Switzerland, 2002; House Zumthor, Haldenstein, Switzerland, 2005; Kolumba Art Museum, Cologne, Germany, 2007; Bruder Klaus Field Chapel, Wachendorf, Germany, 2007; Log houses for Annalisa and Peter Zumthor, Unterhus and Oberhus, Vals, Leis, Switzerland, 2009.

Piet Oudolf
Piet Oudolf’s projects include the internationally renowned High Line in New York, which involved planting along a railway line that winds through the city. Combining minimalism with ecology, this garden was conceived of as a series of interwoven elements that lead visitors along a richly planted path. Other notable designs include the Lurie Garden in Millennium Park, Chicago; Wisley, the Royal Horticultural Society Garden in Surrey; Il Giardino delle Vergini at the 2010 Venice Biennale; and his own innovative garden in Hummelo, The Netherlands. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2010 Award of Distinction by the Association of Professional Landscape Designers and the 2009 Dalecarlica Award, Sweden. Oudolf’s garden was also awarded ‘Best in Show’ at the 2000 Chelsea Flower Show, London. In 2010 he was named as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company.

For press information, contact:
Tom Coupe, 020 7298 1544, tomc@serpentinegallery.org
Rose Dempsey, 020 7298 1520, rosed@serpentinegallery.org
Erica Bolton, Bolton & Quinn, 020 7221 5000, erica@boltonquinn.com

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2011
by Peter Zumthor
opening from 1 July to 16 October 2011

Serpentine Gallery
Kensington Gardens, London
admission free

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