Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2007

The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2007 is designed by the internationally acclaimed artist Olafur Eliasson and the award-winning Norwegian architect Kjetil Thorsen, of the architectural practice Snøhetta. This timberclad structure resembles a spinning top and brings a dramatic vertical dimension to the traditional single-level pavilion. A wide spiralling ramp makes two complete turns, allowing visitors to ascend from the Gallery lawn to the highest point for views across Kensington Gardens as well as a bird’s eye view of the chamber below.

Olafur Eliasson’s deep-rooted interest in spatial questions, explored in his artistic practice, has resulted in an increasing engagement with architectural projects. This has led to Kjetil Thorsen and Olafur Eliasson collaborating on a number of projects, including the National Opera House, Oslo, and a recently submitted competition proposal for a new Museum of Contemporary Art in Warsaw.

The expansion of the Serpentine Pavilion design team to include a visual artist is the development of a format that started in 2006 when Pavilion designers Rem Koolhaas and Cecil Balmond, with Arup, collaborated with the artist Thomas Demand, whose solo exhibition in the Serpentine Gallery was concurrent with the Pavilion. The result was a visual motif, in the form of a large-scale frieze within the Pavilion, which created an explicit link between the Serpentine’s art and architecture programming strands.

Text: Serpentine Gallery

Images: Iwan Baan