Friday, July 16, 2010

A RED RED ROSE in an English Garden

This year's Serpentine Gallery Pavilion just opened on July 10, sadly I have yet to see one of these installations in the flesh.  These temporary pavilions generally house a public space, a cafe and this year it is to be used as a venue for Park Nights.

The program was started in 2000 and every year there has been an amazing architect with an amazing idea. There is a number of short videos to watch here when you have a rainy summer afternoon. They discuss each architect and each pavilion's design and process.

This year the widely acclaimed French  architect Jean Noveau's idea is absolutely brilliant and breath taking. Taking a very pure red, really a crimson (of course the complimentary colour to green), this scheme in a summer, that weather- wise has been perfect in London, is brilliant. The installation never reads like Christmas. The architect states it is to remind us all of summer roses, as well as many of Britian's other traditional icons, the red double deckers, the iconic telephone booths and of course the Royal Mail.  Monsieur Noveau has created a building of many faces in the day and an absolutely fabulous lantern, glowing in the summer evenings.

I have a feeling this would have been a fabulous installation at Expo in Shanghai, being so very red the colour of good fortune here in the Far East. There are even Ping Pong tables out front for fun perhaps, it will be resold in China?.......  until then Lucky Londoners!

pictures via The Guardian UK and the Serpentine Gallery














































































































































































































































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