SANAA: Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009 (edició 2009)

Designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of leading Japanese architecture practice SANAA, the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2009 is the ninth in the series of annual architecture commissions. SANAA's stunning design for the Serpentine Pavilion resembles a reflective cloud or a floating pool of water, sitting atop a series of delicate columns. The undulating aluminium roof moves in and out of the existing trees, reaching up towards the sky and sweeping down almost to the ground, where it is transformed into a table. Open and ephemeral in structure, the mirror-finish roof reflects both the park and sky around it and the absence of doorways means that the public can enter it from all directions. It is a truly democratic structure that fulfils the ambitions of the programme: to create a Pavilion that the public can simply walk into and take ownership of. English text.