Walking within a Canvas

Serpentine Pavilion 2015, designed by Selgascano. All photos by Mahsa Alami

Walking within a Canvas: Serpentine Pavilion 2015

Mahsa Alami 

It is just about colors; an iridescent jelly object eventually catches the eyes while passing through the pathways of ‘Kensington Gardens’. A translucent object which you can easily recognise the shadows of ‘bodies of walkers’ within it. An empty colorful mass with irregular artistic steel frames which has been overlapped partially with joyful colored ribbons is open to public as the 15^th series of annual Serpentine Gallery’s temporary pavilion.  

A translucent object

While the inner membrane is too light because of these balloon-shaped walls, it is expected to levitate easily but the steel frames hold them up and twitch them to the immovable white platform. This secured white platform is holding these fragile combinations of layers and ribbons which are about to fly. In a sunny day, rays of light filtered through the colorful plastics and ribbons, reflecting the shapes and colors on the white platform. It makes a fantastic exhibition of light and colors which holds a thoughtful architectural effort in its background. It becomes a piece of art, a beautiful painting in which the sun brings the colors and it contours them on the white canvas, where you are walking within it. It is just about colors. Regardless of nonharmonic and accidentally movement of ribbons, from the architectural point of view, the reflection of these movements in combination with the harmonic attitude of steel frames creates an aesthetic painting on the canvas. Seemingly, it was the main target of designers to build a conjugation of colors glowing, shadows, reflections, brightness, airy atmosphere, playful rhythm of movements, happy hour of hanging out and above all, offering different views of surrounding gardens from within pavilion’s  festival of colors.

On the other side of the coin, the unsuccessful engineering of functional details shows first of all, how the construction of the whole pavilion is inoperative due to patching the ribbons and frames together with tape in some parts and also because of rain leaking from almost everywhere in the rainy days which cause water splash within the floor as if there is no proper border between landscape and the stage (which supposedly was a target of designer to send this message that there is no absolute way of space division in architecture). Secondly, as the result of inaccurate finishing, the pavilion seems to be vulnerable for it could not preserve its appearance during its 6 month of existence just as it can be seen some considerable damages has been accrued due to becoming a translucent bondage cave for children’s hide-and-seek which led some ribbons become loose. Even worse, parts of the floor has been cracked while representing the beneath layer of concrete which is neither artistic nor architectural.

Ribbons has been taped to frames

In total, it seems this translucent object embraces the meaning of uncertainty in terms of its unpredictable geometry and imprecise manipulated structure. The idea of using handy materials in an unstable way of construction for a public space is questionable. Materials such as ribbons which have been threaded accidentally into the steel frames could have been more protected to not being damaged. Translucent plastics as the major feature of the pavilion must have had a thoughtful overlapping. Also the resistless and fragile floor finishing which is the main reason why this floated object has still stuck to the ground could have been implemented more appropriately. If this pavilion has a thoughtful design based on deconstructivism, which is obvious from its formal and geometrical expression, then why its construction lacks accuracy and precision? Perhaps, a more constructive collaboration between architects and builders could let the pavilion remain fresh like its very early days of opening to public.

Inappropriate floor finishing