Cloud Pavilion

06.04.16

This pavilion was commissioned by the Serpentine gallery and built on location in London's Kensington Gardens. It was designed by Tokyo architect, Sou Fujimoto in 2013.

The pavilion aims to find a balance between nature and artificial things. The grid itself is rigid, straight and artificial but with a large amount of these grids together, the structure becomes more organic. It resembles the ground emerging and creates a transparent landscape but at the same time looks like a soft, floating cloud.

The design was intended to remain as transparent as possible so polycarbonate, round shaped discs were tiled together in order to block rain without using a roof. This helps to protect visitors from the elements while allowing them to remain part of the landscape. The discs also move and swing in the wind, giving a softer atmosphere to the structure.