2007 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion unveiled
Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and Norwegian architect Kjetil Thorsen have unveiled their collaborative design for the 2007 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion.
Commissioned to an individual or design team that has not completed a building in the UK, the piece features a timber-clad structure resembling a spinning top. A wide spiralling ramp ascends from the lawn via the seating area to the highest point of the building, giving views across Kensington Gardens and to the inner chamber.
Directors Julia Peyton-Jones and Hans Ulrich Obrist said: “This architectural commission has taken a step into the future by expanding the design team to include a visual artist, a format that began last year with a collaboration between Pavilion designers Rem Koolhaas and Cecil Balmond with artist Thomas Demand. This brings an extra dimension to the project.”
The structural artwork will be open to the public from July to October.
Eliasson’s previous projects include The Weather piece featured in the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern in London in 2003, as well as the Icelandic National Concert and Conference Centre in Reykjavik.
He also collaborated with Thorsen on the New National Opera House in Oslo, which is currently under construction.