Message to the people who are moaning about the amount of Zaha Hadid stuff on dezeen: nobody is forcing you to visit this site! Give us a break! Update: this project is included in Dezeen Book of Ideas, which is on sale now for £12. Zaha is on a roll right now and we're not going to turn down quality material and exclusives just to placate a handful of conspiracy theorists.
For everyone else: the Serpentine Gallery in London is due to announce today that the summer pavilion designed by Snøhetta is going to be delayed by a few weeks, so this temporary structure by Hadid will be erected so the gallery can continue with its events programme this summer.
Oh and by the way, we believe in freedom of speech and we're happy to publish comments dissing what we do on dezeen; but people who use foul language or make nasty insinuations can just f*** off. Get a life will you. Or set up your own blog.
Press release from the Serpentine Pavilion below:
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Serpentine Gallery Press Release
12 June 2007
Serpentine Gallery commissions Zaha Hadid & Patrik Schumacher installation for Kensington Gardens
12 July – 21 July 2007
Pritzker Prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher, Partner at Zaha Hadid Architect’s will design a temporary installation on the occasion of the Gallery’s world-renowned fundraiser The Summer Party, which will take place on 11 July. It will be sited on the lawn next to the Gallery where it will remain for a period of one week.
The installation is designed as an open air space, 5.5 meters in height that consists of three identical fabric structures or parasols arrayed around a central point. Each parasol develops sculpturally from a small articulated base to a large cantilevered diamond shape. Taking inspiration from complex natural geometries such as flower petals and leaves the three parasols overlap to create the installation’s main conceptual feature: complex symmetry, interweaving all-the-while without touching, allowing air, light and sound to travel through narrow gaps in a state that is both open and likewise tending toward closure. Raised on a low platform located within an open field flanked by a row of trees just South of the Serpentine Gallery, the installation is free standing and accessible from all sides.
Zaha Hadid is an architect who consistently pushes the boundaries of architecture and urban design. Her work experiments with new spatial concepts intensifying existing urban landscapes in the pursuit of a visionary aesthetic that encompasses all fields of design, ranging from urban scale through to products, interiors and furniture. Best known for her seminal built works (Vitra Fire Station, Bergisel Ski-Jump in Innsbruck, the Strasbourg Tram Station, the Rosenthal Centre for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, the BMW Central Building in Leipzig and the Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg) her central concerns involve a simultaneous engagement in practice, teaching and research.
An aspect of Hadid's vision is her interest in the rigorous interface between architecture, landscape, and geology as she integrates natural topography and human-made systems that lead her to experiment with cutting-edge technologies. Her current projects include: the Architecture Foundation in London, the Aquatic Centre for the London 2012 Olympic Games, the Performing Arts Centre in Abu Dhabi, the Signature Towers in Dubai, opera houses in Dubai and China, the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Sardinia, private residences in Moscow and the USA, as well as major master-planning projects in Bilbao, Istanbul, Singapore and the Middle East.
Zaha Hadid was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2004. Her work has received global recognition from the Mies van der Rohe Foundation of European Architecture, the American Institute of Architects, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Royal Academy of Arts, the International Olympic Committee for Design, the Austrian Commission for Science & Art and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.
Patrik Schumacher is a partner at Zaha Hadid Architects and has been a senior designer on a series of major projects like the Centre of Contemporary Art and Architecture in Rome and the Central Building for the BMW factory in Leipzig. He is registered with the Architect’s Registration Board, and is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects.