À Table, designed by architect Lina Ghotmeh is this years chosen design of the Serpentine Pavilion. Ghotmeh was inspired by a desire to develop our primal relationship with the Earth into a sustainable one. She wished to create a space for grounding ourselves and reflecting on our relationship with nature and the environment.
Lebanese-born, Paris-based architect Ghotmeh’s was inspired by her Mediterranean heritage, À Table was named after the French calling to come to the table to eat. The pavilion houses a circular table along the perimeter, inviting us to convene within and build new communities. Ghotmeh believes the relationship a building has with its environment is imperative and feels “Architecture should be present but also disappear into its surroundings” reflecting the history, climate and natural environment surrounding it. She feels architecture should be built from resources found at the location where it is erected. Built from predominantly bio-sources and low-carbon materials, the À Table Pavilion champions Ghotmeh’s focus on sustainability, with the roof shaped as a leaf, mimicking the trees found in Kensington Park. This can also be seen in the use of wooden beams and fretwork panels that feature plant-like cut-out patterns, allowing light to seep into the structure encircling the perimeter. The result is a sturdy, light, airy, and organic pavilion that makes the user feel at one with nature. Find out more here: https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/serpentine-pavilion-2023-by-lina-ghotmeh/
The Serpentine Pavilion has commissioned selected architects to create a summertime pavilion for the past 23 years. Open annually from June to October, the experimental architecture has become an international stage for displaying the talents, ideas, and influences of select architects. The pavilion has had designers, artists, and architects from all over the world put their creative spin on this dedicated space, from the likes of Daniel Libeskind, who designed the 2001 Serpentine Pavilion, ‘Eighteen Turns’ to Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, who used white steel poles in 2013 to construct a creation of straight lines that melded into a soft 3,800-square-foot hole. Last year’s Pavilion greatly juxtaposed Ghotmeh’s, the Black Chapel by Theatre Gates was a demanding, dark structure that used an array of textures and materials to create depth and interest.
Written by Imogen Mitchell, Senior Account Executive.