Spanish architect's kaleidoscopic Serpentine Pavilion completes

‘A labyrinthine translucent whorl’: Architecture critic Ike Ijeh’s verdict

Transport for London appears to be an unwitting muse for an increasing number of Serpentine Pavilions. Five years ago Jean Nouvel drenched his in a decadent blood red hue as a ripe cinematic homage to the London Bus. And for this year’s offering we have colourful Spanish duo SelgasCano creating a labyrinthine translucent whorl partially inspired by the convoluted connectivity of the London Underground. 

Like all Serpentine Pavilions, this one is a work of decadent, avant-garde and decidedly esoteric architecture. A series of polygonal, amorphous tent-like structures is constructed to incorporate a series of circuitous perimeter routes, referred to by the architects as “secret corridors” that lead to a central, womb-like void. The structure is shrouded in ETFE psychedelically tinted in various shades, rather like a three-dimensional version of the polychromatic streaks that sometimes cling to the edges of rainwater puddles, another unwittingly apt reference, perhaps, to London’s climate.

Occasionally, strips of brightly coloured banding are attached to the inner or outer face of the ETFE to provide a more diffuse envelope. The inner room itself is conceived as a sanctuary with the architects alluding to the “stained glass” effect created by the coloured ETFE and which both frames and subtly distorts views out to the park landscape.

The architects talk passionately about the themes that charged their work, their desire to create a spatial and visual experience actively manipulated by considerations of light, transparency, colour and surprise. In that sense it works. It is certainly colourful and bright and has an engaging Pop Art irreverence that is more visually engaging that last year’s curious prehistoric cave. Moreover its complex footprint and convoluted layout make for an intriguing piece of architecture that invites discovery and exploration, even if the “secret corridor” analogy is seriously compromised by a transparent multi-coloured skin.

But, unexpectedly, the Tube reference is what compels the most. The best Serpentine Pavilions always reference context and the city in order to anchor themselves to their surroundings. This is why Peter Zumthor’s walled garden of 2011, a dark monastic inversion of Hyde Park’s rolling landscape, remains one of the most memorable recent offerings. Equally, references to red buses and convoluted underground networks may seem trite and hubristic but they provide an important architectural prism which reflects an image of how foreign architects perceive London.

Some of the best pieces of art are created by those working in an adopted foreign environment. While familiarity inevitably breeds inhibition, those unaccustomed to our customs and conventions can cast a culturally unconditioned eye over what we take for granted. Alfred Hitchcock may have been a prim Englishman from Leytonstone but his spellbinding cinematic evocation of the vast landscapes and urban menace of America still stand as some of the most viscerally compelling depictions of that country ever committed to screen.

So it is with this year’s Serpentine Pavilion. Like all Serpentine Pavilions it may be frivolous and rarefied but this one’s also bright and colourful and children will love it. But what makes it and every other Serpentine Pavilion really interesting is not what we see in it but what it tells us about how others see us.