The new pavilion designed by JIAKUN Architects was announced as a collaboration with WF CENTRAL from Beijing, - a luxury shopping and hotel complex in the Dongcheng district of the Chinese capital, only a stones-throw away from the iconic Forbidden City.
This will be the first Serpentine Pavilion to be built outside the UK and, like the annual editions in London's Kensington Gardens, it will be used to host a programme of public events.
The winning design by Sichuan practice JIAKUN Architects was selected by a committee of eight, including the Serpentine Galleries' artistic director Hans-Ulrich Obrist, CEO Yana Peel and architect David Adjaye.
According to the architects, the pavilion design takes inspiration from Confucianism, having the architecture act as a physical representation of the traditional pursuit of Junzi.-
This will be the first Serpentine Pavilion to be built outside the UK and, like the annual editions in London's Kensington Gardens, it will be used to host a programme of public events.
The winning design by Sichuan practice JIAKUN Architects was selected by a committee of eight, including the Serpentine Galleries' artistic director Hans-Ulrich Obrist, CEO Yana Peel and architect David Adjaye.
According to the architects, the pavilion design takes inspiration from Confucianism, having the architecture act as a physical representation of the traditional pursuit of Junzi.-
"The design is characterized by the figure of the Archer, in the form of a curved cantilever beam that incorporates the forces of elasticity through cables stretched between steel plates. Although modern architecture in Beijing has developed a series of powerful techniques to fight the external forces of fierce winds and unpredictable earthquakes, the Pavilion's integral structure aims — like the Tai Chi Master — to conquer the harshness of those forces with softness."
Initiated in 2000, the annual London Serpentine Pavilion commissions have showcased temporary structures designed by the biggest names in the craft, such as Rem Koolhaas, Frank Gehry, SANAA, Jean Nouvel, Peter Zumthor, Herzog & de Meuron with Ai Weiwei and more recently Sou Fujimoto, Smiljan Radic, SelgasCano, Bjarke Ingels, and Diébédo Francis Kéré.
