Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2018

The author of this year's pavilion is the Mexican architect Frida Escobedo, known for her revitalizing interventions in urban environments. Escobedo is the youngest figure to be entrusted with this task in the eighteen-year history of the Serpentine Gallery. Escobedo attempted to create an atmosphere of Mexican architecture using British materials. The surrounding walls consist of dark concrete roof tiles arranged to evoke traditional semi-permeable Mexican walls. Part of the open courtyard is occupied by a triangular pool, whose water surface reflects the surrounding walls. Similarly, the mirrored panels in the ceiling behave in this way, creating multiple reflections and optically elongating the space. The object is oriented towards the Prime Meridian, which passes just a few kilometers east of the nearby Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Escobedo conceptualizes her pavilion as a "clock." Just as material plays a significant role, so does time, which is expressed in the pavilion through a play of light and shadow, reflection and refraction of light throughout the day. Visitors to London can visit the pavilion from June 15 to October 7, 2018.