AECOM specially engineers fiberglass to achieve Smiljan Radic’s vision for the Serpentine Pavilion.

The use of fiberglass allowed for the pavilion to be thin and brittle, but also had the strength to span a large face. The pigment made it fire retardant.Courtesy Louis Webb Bird/AECOM 

A semi-translucent fiberglass orb perched atop quarry stones glows in the night in London’s Kensington Gardens. A 3,800-squarefoot gallery designed by the Chilean architect Smiljan Radic, the 2014 Serpentine Pavilion is a fragile play between material, texture, and light. Radic often uses papier-mâché models in his work and he wanted that material to translate into his pavilion. He brought on board the engineering arm of the multidisciplinary architecture and design firm AECOM to provide the technical expertise.

“He wanted a structure that felt thin, and brittle, and fragile, but also had the strength to span across quite a large face,” says Thomas Webster, one of AECOM’s lead engineers on the pavilion. “When you layer up papier-mâché, you get dark patches that are slightly thicker, and light patches. Radic wanted to play on that juxtaposition.”....Continue Reading

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