The Ito-Balmond Serpentine Pavilion
Encyclopedia
The Ito-Balmond Serpentine Pavilion was designed by Cecil Balmond and Toyo Ito in 2002.
Cecil Balmond
is a designer, engineer, artist, architect, thinker and writer.
Toyo Ito
is a Japanese architects and is currently based in Tokyo.
Pavilion programme. The gallery is in London’s Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park and it focuses on modern and contemporary art. Each year the Serpentine Gallery
builds a temporary structure for the summer in its grounds. The projects are led by director Julia Peyton-Jones.
Balmond has been a key creative force behind the pavilions and has designed structures with Daniel Libeskind
(2001), Álvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura
(2005) and Rem Koolhaas
(2006). The Ito-Balmond Serpentine Pavilion has been hailed as one of the most successful pavilions to date. Jonathan Glancey
, architecture critic for UK’s The Guardian
called it, “one of the most exquisite and revolutionary buildings of recent times”.
The design is based on an algorithm
designed by Balmond. “Although fun to look at, this structure was rooted in complex geometry…the pavilion had no façade and no hidden structural frame behind it… what you saw was 100% pure structure, its holistic beauty like that of a crystal or a snowflake.
This is what Balmond did.
The Guardian
stated: “The Ito-Balmond Serpentine Pavilion is a clue to what buildings could be”.
Evening Standard
called it “Why can’t all new buildings be this good? Toyo Ito’s magical summer pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery is a lesson in imagination.
Balmond was awarded the Gengo Matsui prize for the pavilion. It is one of the highest awards for engineering given in Japan
.
The pavilion now serves as the beach club restaurant of a luxury hotel in the South of France, Le Beauvallon across the bay from St Tropez.
Ito and Balmond have since collaborated on the Taichung Opera House in Taiwan
.
Cecil Balmond
Cecil Balmond
Cecil Balmond is a Sri Lankan/British designer, engineer, artist, architect, and writer. He has been hailed as "one of the most important forces in contemporary architecture today," and in 2003 received the prestigious RIBA Charles Jencks award for Theory in Practice. He is also the recipient of...
is a designer, engineer, artist, architect, thinker and writer.
Toyo Ito
Toyo Ito
is a Japanese architect known for creating conceptual architecture, in which he seeks to simultaneously express the physical and virtual worlds. He is a leading exponent of architecture that addresses the contemporary notion of a "simulated" city, and has been called "one of the world's most...
is a Japanese architects and is currently based in Tokyo.
Overview
The structure was built for the Serpentine GallerySerpentine Gallery
The Serpentine Gallery is an art gallery in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, central London. It focuses on modern and contemporary art. The exhibitions, architecture, education and public programmes attract approximately 750,000 visitors a year...
Pavilion programme. The gallery is in London’s Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park and it focuses on modern and contemporary art. Each year the Serpentine Gallery
Serpentine Gallery
The Serpentine Gallery is an art gallery in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, central London. It focuses on modern and contemporary art. The exhibitions, architecture, education and public programmes attract approximately 750,000 visitors a year...
builds a temporary structure for the summer in its grounds. The projects are led by director Julia Peyton-Jones.
Balmond has been a key creative force behind the pavilions and has designed structures with Daniel Libeskind
Daniel Libeskind
Daniel Libeskind, is an American architect, artist, and set designer of Polish-Jewish descent. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect...
(2001), Álvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura
Eduardo Souto de Moura
-Life and career:Souto de Moura was born in Porto, and studied sculpture before switching to architecture at the School of Fine Arts of the University of Porto, the current FAUP - Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto, and receiving his degree in 1980. From 1974 to 1979 he worked with...
(2005) and Rem Koolhaas
Rem Koolhaas
Remment Lucas Koolhaas is a Dutch architect, architectural theorist, urbanist and "Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design" at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, USA. Koolhaas studied at the Netherlands Film and Television Academy in Amsterdam, at the Architectural...
(2006). The Ito-Balmond Serpentine Pavilion has been hailed as one of the most successful pavilions to date. Jonathan Glancey
Jonathan Glancey
Jonathan Glancey is an architectural critic and writer who is the architecture and design editor at The Guardian, a position he has held since 1997. He previously held the same post at The Independent. He also has been involved with the architecture magazines Building Design, Architectural Review,...
, architecture critic for UK’s The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
called it, “one of the most exquisite and revolutionary buildings of recent times”.
The design is based on an algorithm
Algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an effective method expressed as a finite list of well-defined instructions for calculating a function. Algorithms are used for calculation, data processing, and automated reasoning...
designed by Balmond. “Although fun to look at, this structure was rooted in complex geometry…the pavilion had no façade and no hidden structural frame behind it… what you saw was 100% pure structure, its holistic beauty like that of a crystal or a snowflake.
This is what Balmond did.
- Draw a square.
- Draw a line from halfway on one side of this square to a third of the way down the clockwise adjacent side.
- Repeat for each side.
- Extend these four lines in both directions outside the original square until they meet to from a new, rotated square.
- Repeat steps 1 to 4 inside the new square.
The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
stated: “The Ito-Balmond Serpentine Pavilion is a clue to what buildings could be”.
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
called it “Why can’t all new buildings be this good? Toyo Ito’s magical summer pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery is a lesson in imagination.
Balmond was awarded the Gengo Matsui prize for the pavilion. It is one of the highest awards for engineering given in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
The pavilion now serves as the beach club restaurant of a luxury hotel in the South of France, Le Beauvallon across the bay from St Tropez.
Ito and Balmond have since collaborated on the Taichung Opera House in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
.