A psychedelic labyrinth will land in Kensington Gardens this summer, courtesy of young Spanish architects Selgas Cano, whose plans to weave a colourful plastic cocoon for the 15th annual Serpentine pavilion have been unveiled today. Formed from layers of jazzy plastic fabric and coloured webbing stretched over a framework of interlocking tunnels, it looks as if an exotic caterpillar might have nibbled on a magic mushroom before spinning its chrysalis.
“It will be absolutely experimental from every angle you look through it,” Jose Selgas told me, when he and his partner Lucia Cano were selected for the prestigious commission in December. In today’s announcement, the architects (who work in their own cocoon, buried in a forest outside Madrid) say they have “sought a way to allow the public to experience architecture through simple elements,” creating a “journey through the space, characterised by colour, light and irregular shapes with surprising volumes.”
“It will be absolutely experimental from every angle you look through it,” Jose Selgas told me, when he and his partner Lucia Cano were selected for the prestigious commission in December. In today’s announcement, the architects (who work in their own cocoon, buried in a forest outside Madrid) say they have “sought a way to allow the public to experience architecture through simple elements,” creating a “journey through the space, characterised by colour, light and irregular shapes with surprising volumes.”
It follows on from another cocoon-shaped pavilion last year, designed by a similarly little-known architect, the Chilean Smiljan Radic. While his papery pod had an organic quality, this year’s supercharged structure couldn’t look more synthetic, in keeping with the Spanish architects’ penchant for playful plastic structures.
Comments
Post a Comment