Japanese architect Junya Ishigami has been named as the designer of the 2019 Serpentine Pavilion, which will be installed in Kensington Gardens, London between 20 June and 6 October 2019.

The architect, who runs his firm Junya Ishigami + Associates in Japan, is known for his experimental structures that interpret traditional architectural conventions and reflect natural phenomena in a new contemporary language. 

Ishigami is the nineteenth architect to accept the invitation to design a temporary Pavilion on the Serpentine Gallery’s lawn in Kensington Gardens, after Mexican architect Frida Escobedo's design installed last year. 

Ishigami's proposal for Serpentine Pavilion 2019, Design Render. Exterior View. Image © Junya Ishigami + Associates

Ishigami’s design takes inspiration from roofs, the most common architectural feature used around the world. The design of the 2019 Serpentine Pavilion is made by arranging slates to create a single canopy roof that appears to emerge from the ground of the surrounding Park. 

Within, the interior of the Pavilion is an enclosed cave-like space, a refuge for contemplation. For Ishigami, the Pavilion articulates his ‘free space’ philosophy in which he seeks harmony between man-made structures and those that already exist in nature.

"My design for the Pavilion plays with our perspectives of the built environment against the backdrop of a natural landscape, emphasising a natural and organic feel as though it had grown out of the lawn, resembling a hill made out of rocks," said Junya Ishigami, describing his design. 

"This is an attempt to supplement traditional architecture with modern methodologies and concepts, to create in this place an expanse of scenery like never seen before. Possessing the weighty presence of slate roofs seen around the world, and simultaneously appearing so light it could blow away in the breeze, the cluster of scattered rock levitates, like a billowing piece of fabric," he added.

Ishigami, 45, previously worked as an architect at SANAA before founding the prize-winning Junya Ishigami + Associates in 2004. Winner of the Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2010, he was the subject of a major and critically acclaimed solo exhibition at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in 2018 that is traveling to the Power Station of art in Shanghai later this year. 

Junya Ishigami by Tasuko Amada. Image © Junya Ishigami + Associates

He is known for designs with dream-like qualities that incorporate the natural world, such as landscapes, forests and clouds, in an architectural practice that places humankind as part of nature.

Serpentine Galleries Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist and CEO Yana Peel selected this year’s architect with advisors Sir David Adjaye OBE, Lord Richard Rogers and David Glover alongside Julie Burnell (Head of Construction and Buildings, Serpentine Galleries) and Amira Gad (Curator, Exhibitions and Architecture, Serpentine Galleries).

"We are thrilled to be able to share the designs for Junya Ishigami’s Serpentine Pavilion – a structure informed by the natural world and situated in the middle of one of London’s greenest spaces: Kensington Gardens. The Pavilion and its accompanying programme will be central to the Serpentine’s General Ecology strand – an ongoing investigation into complex systems, interspecies landscapes and the environment," said Serpentine Galleries Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist and CEO Yana Peel.

"Alongside this year’s Pavilion, we are thrilled to simultaneously launch Serpentine Augmented Architecture, with Google Arts and Culture, where a winning submission for an unrealised project will be on display. Both projects bring to life a brilliant conjunction of experiments in technology and creative vision. We hope all visitors, of all ages will enjoy the spaces as we continue in our mission to bring art and architecture to the widest audiences."

Top image: Serpentine Pavilion 2019, Design Render, Interior View, © Junya Ishigami + Associates

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