Photography © 2019 Iwan Baan
Aecom and contractor Stage One drafted in traditional stonemasons to deliver what it has described as one of the most complex Serpentine Pavilions yet.
The firm, in collaboration with David Glover, has delivered a design by Japanese architect Junya Ishigami, which blends nature and traditional architecture.
Working closely with the architect, Serpentine Galleries and the project’s contractor Stage One, Aecom has created an organic shape with a ‘rock carpet’ roof that has been built by hand on-site by traditional stonemasons.
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Photography © 2019 Iwan Baan
Ishigami took his inspiration from the stone roof, a dominant feature of Japanese architecture. The building required complex engineering design and Aecom described the project as “structurally very challenging”.
Ishigami created a free-form organically shaped expanse of Cumbrian slate, which is lifted from the ground on a ‘forest’ of slender steel columns. To achieve Ishigami’s vision of an ‘unstable’ structure holding up the heavy layers of metamorphic rock as though it was weightless, the size and profile of the structural steel frame was rationalised to the extent that it is nearly six times lighter than the 60 tonne slate it supports.
With this, Ishigami’s Pavilion articulates his ‘free space’ philosophy in which he seeks harmony between man-made structures and those that already exist in nature.
Photography © 2019 Iwan Baan
Aecom claimed the complexity and detail in Ishigami’s design would typically take around five years to build. Instead, the project had a six-month design and construction programme and the engineering firm used a range of digital tools to produce working solutions for Ishigami. Physical scale models were then built at the architect’s workshop in Japan to consider the implications and develop further iterations to the overall design.
Stage One, using the expertise of a skilled team of traditionally trained stonemasons, undertook physical testing of slate tile build-ups.
Michael Orr, principal engineer, Aecom, said: “For the seventh year running AECOM has collaboratively worked with its project partners to deliver the Serpentine Pavilion. Along with the demanding timescales, Ishigami’s ambitious vision for a carpet of rock that blends with the surrounding landscape and maintains a weightless look has been one of the most technically challenging but exciting Pavilions for us yet.”
