Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2006, London
OMA - Office for Metropolitan Architecture 

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2006, London

OMA - Office for Metropolitan Architecture 


Each summer since the year 2000 London’s Serpentine Gallery raises a temporary pavilion by its building in Kensington Gardens. The Serpentine commissions experimental pieces to internationally acclaimed architects. Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind, Toyo Ito, Oscar Niemeyer, MVRDV, and Álvaro Siza with Eduardo Souto de Moura completed pavilions before OMA, and after that they have been carried out by artist Olafur Eliasson, Frank Gehry, SANAA, Jean Nouvel, Peter Zumthor, Herzog & de Meuron, Sou Fujimoto, Smiljan Radic and, in the latest edition, by the Madrid-based architects Selgas Cano.

Designed in collaboration with engineer Cecil Balmond, the 2006 pavilion was a spectacular ovoid-shaped inflatable canopy that seemed to float above the Serpentine’s lawn: a ‘bubble’ arranged like a roof over a space surrounded by a ring of translucid polycarbonate panels. During the three months the pavilion was open it held a major exhibition of works by the German artist Thomas Demand, and a 24-hour film in which the curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and Rem Koolhaas himself participated. 


Architectural Design

Partner in Charge: Rem Koolhaas. Project Architect: Clement Blanchet. Team: Adam Furman, Karel Wuytack, Karen Crequer

Integrated Design

Arup

Principal in Charge: Cecil Balmond

Team: Chris Carroll, Carolina Bartram, Tristan Simmonds, Steve Walker, Andrew Grant, Anthony Ferguson, Phil Greenup

Project Advisors: Lord Palumbo, Serpentine Board of Trustees; Zaha Hadid, Serpentine Board of Trustees; Peter Rogers, Stanhope Plc; Mark Camley, Royal Parks Agency

Project Directors: Julia Peyton-Jones, Director, Serpentine Gallery and Co-Director, Exhibitions and Programmes; Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director, Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects

Project Manager: Mark Robinson

Project Organiser: Kathryn Rattee, Serpentine Gallery

Planning and Building Control: City of Westminster Planning and Transportation Department

Quantity Surveyors: Davis Langdon Management; Town Planning Consultants DP9

Construction Management: Bovis Lend Lease

Planning Supervisor: Bovis Lend Lease

Sale: Knight Frank

Ground Works and Site Facilities: John Doyle Group; GTL Partnership Ltd; SES Ltd

Flooring System: FH Brundle; Sheetfabs; 13

Polycarbonate Wall System: Bay Plastics Ltd; Sheetfabs

Inflatable Structure: Hightex with Tensys

Structural Steel: William Hare

Lighting Installation: T Clarke

Lighting Supply: Siteco

AV Consultant: Mark Johnson Consultants Ltd

Security: Clipfine

Dismantling and Refurbishment: Keltbray

Photos

Iwan Baan; Roland Halbe; Clement Blanchet