Frida Escobedo's Serpentine Pavilion Unveiled
John Hill
12. June 2018
Photo: Iwan Baan
The 2018 Serpentine Pavilion, designed by Mexican architect Frida Escobedo, the 18th and youngest architect to be selected for the annual pavilion in London's Kensington Gardens, opens to the public on Friday.
Escobedo, whose selection was announced in February, created a walled courtyard with a shallow pool at its center. The walls are porous, much like the traditional celosias (breeze walls) common in Mexican architecture. They are built from British-made cement roof tiles in a staggered pattern that gives the walls an apparent vertical striping. The photos by Iwan Baan capture this but also the curved profiles of the roof tiles and the mirrored roof plane in the courtyard that combines with the shallow, walkable pool to reflect the architecture and its surroundings. Escobedo describes her pavilion as "a timepiece that charts the passage of the day," while the Serpentine Galleries attests it will enable visitors to "feel a heightened awareness of time spent in play, improvisation and contemplation over the summer months."
Frida Escobeda's 2018 Serpentine Pavilion is on display 15 June - 7 October 2018.