Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2011
The concept for this year's Pavilion is the hortus conclusus, a contemplative room, a garden within a garden. One enters the building from the lawn and begins the transition into the central garden, a place abstracted from the world of noise and traffic and the smells of London - an interior space within which to sit, to walk, to observe the flowers.
With this Pavilion, as with previous structures such as the famous Thermal Baths at Vals, Switzerland, or the Bruder Klaus Chapel in Mechernich, Germany, Zumthor has emphasised the sensory and spiritual aspects of the architectural experience, from the precise yet simple composition and 'presence' of the materials, to the handling of scale and the effect of light.
At the heart of Peter Zumthor's practice is a refined selection of materials used to create contemplative spaces that evoke the spiritual dimension of our physical environment.
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