The Serpentine has revealed designs for its expanded Architecture Programme for 2016: the 16th annual Pavilion designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and four newly commissioned Summer Houses by Kunlé Adeyemi – NLÉ (Amsterdam/Lagos), Barkow Leibinger (Berlin/New York), Yona Friedman (Paris) and Asif Khan (London). The Summer Houses are inspired by Queen Caroline’s Temple, a classical style summer house built in 1734 and a stone’s throw from the Serpentine Gallery.

Introducing contemporary architecture to a wider audience, the Serpentine Architecture Programme presents a unique exhibition of contemporary international architecture in the built form, rather than through an exhibition of models, drawings and plans. Each of the five architects, aged between 36 and 93, have not completed a permanent structure in the UK.

Serpentine Summer House 2016 designed by Kunlé Adeyemi -NLÉ. Image © Iwan Baan

The Serpentine Pavilion, designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), is an 'unzipped wall' that is transformed from straight line to three-dimensional space, creating a dramatic structure that by day houses a café and free family activities and by night becomes a space for the Serpentine’s acclaimed Park Nights programme of performative works by artists, writers and musicians. Kunlé Adeyemi’s Summer House is an inverse replica of Queen Caroline’s Temple - a tribute to its robust form, space and material, recomposed into a new sculptural object. 

Serpentine Summer House 2016 designed by Barkow Leibinger. Image © Iwan Baan

Barkow Leibinger were inspired by another, now extinct, 18th Century pavilion also designed by William Kent, which rotated and offered 360 degree views of the Park. Yona Friedman’s Summer House takes the form of a modular structure that can be assembled and disassembled in different formations and builds upon the architect’s pioneering project La Ville Spatiale (Spatial City) begun in the late 1950s. Asif Khan’s design is inspired by the fact that Queen Caroline’s Temple was positioned in a way that it would allow it to catch the sunlight from The Serpentine lake.

Serpentine Summer House 2016 designed by Yona Friedman. Image © Iwan Baan

''We are delighted to reveal the designs for our expanded Architecture Programme. As you can see from the architect’s renders, Bjarke Ingels has responded to the brief for a multi-purpose Pavilion with a supremely elegant structure that is both curvaceous wall and soaring spire, that will surely serve as a beacon - drawing visitors across Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens to visit the Pavilion, the Summer Houses and our major exhibitions by Alex Katz and Etel Adnan. The response to design a Summer House inspired by the 18th Century Queen Caroline’s Temple by our four international architects has been equally inspired and has produced four unique spaces for visitors to explore this summer'' said Hans Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine Galleries Director, Julia Peyton-Jones, and Co-Director.

Serpentine Summer House 2016 designed by Asif Khan. Image © Iwan Baan

Serpentine's new pavilion and four summer houses will be on view between 10 June and 9 October 2016 with free admission. The Serpentine also announced its Autumn/Winter program 2016 starting on September 29, 2016 and will continue till February 12, 2017. The exhibition program will feature Zaha Hadid's drawings and paintings exhibit between 8 December 2016 – 12 February 2017 at Serpentine Sackler Gallery. 

Queen Caroline's Temple, Kensington Gardens, London. Image by Garry Knight

See The Serpentine's detailed exhibition program below:

Autumn / 29 Sept – 20 Nov 2016

Exhibitions by Marc Camille Chaimowicz and Helen Marten 

Serpentine’s 3rd Digital Commission by James Bridle 

Ritual, repetition and magical thinking with the Miracle Marathon 

Winter / 8 Dec 2016 – 12 Feb 2017

The drawings and paintings of the late Zaha Hahid

First UK solo exhibition by Lucy Raven

Top image: Serpentine Pavilion 2016 designed by Bjarke Ingels Group. Image © Iwan Baan

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