SelgasCano's 2015 Serpentine Pavilion is to be relocated in Los Angeles to offer free public programs during this summer. The cocoon-like installation, wrapped by a multi-colored translucent ETFE membrane, will be rebuilt on the grounds of LA's La Brea Tar Pits where the only consistently active urban Ice Age excavation site in the world.

The Serpentine Pavilion was designed by Spanish studio SelgasCano and the installation was originally constructed in London’s Kensington Gardens in 2015. The pavilion will now be relocated with the efforts of Second Home, a co-working company based in London and the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County (NHMLAC). 

Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu

Set to be opened from June 28 to November 24, 2019, the pavilion will act as a multi-purpose social space accommodating programs intersecting art, design, science, and nature. Second Home opened its new location in Lisbon and the pavilion, comes right before the opening of Second Home’s first Hollywood location.

Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu

The pavilion, also called Second Home Serpentine Pavilion, was designed as a tubular tent-like structure in which its surfaces' feature a spectrum of multi-colored hues. The installation had attracted over 170,000 visitors. 

Image © Jim Stephenson

"We are pleased to be working with Second Home to bring the Pavilion to Los Angeles and to one of L.A.’s most compelling public and scientific resources, La Brea Tar Pits. The Pavilion is an opportunity to experience one of the boldest and most innovative designs in contemporary architecture," said Dr. Lori Bettison-Varga, NHMLAC President and Director.

"But it’s also a place for people to meet and be inspired by a range of activities throughout the summer. It gives a glimpse of what we can do with cultural programming at our museums, at that space where art and science intersect."

Image © Jim Stephenson

The award-winning studio, headed by José Selgas and Lucía Cano, was the first Spanish architecture practice asked to design the temporary Pavilion on the Serpentine’s lawn in London’s Kensington Gardens.

The Pavilion was an amorphous, double-skinned, polygonal structure consisting of panels of a translucent, multi-coloured fluorine-based polymer (ETFE) woven through and wrapped like webbing. Visitors could enter and exit the Pavilion at a number of different points, passing through a ‘secret corridor’ between the outer and inner layer of the structure and into the Pavilion’s brilliant, stained glass-effect interior. 

Top image © Iwan Baan

> via Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County/Second Home