Events: Counterspace at the Serpentine Pavilion

EVENTS: COUNTERSPACE AT THE SERPENTINE PAVILION!

Written by Beth Pratt

Johannesburg-based architects Counterspace were already the youngest architects to be commissioned to design the Serpentine Pavilion in London’s Hyde Park; now they are the first to have their commission extended to two years.
Counterspace’s design will be based on gathering spaces and community places around the city, connected to the Serpentine’s multi-platform project Back to Earth. Although based in the Kensington Gardens Pavilion structure, the project will incorporate moveable small parts that can be taken to neighbourhoods across London, connecting the entire city in an exploration of architecture, wellbeing, and sustainability.

The Pavilion itself will open in June 2021, accompanied by an exciting programme of live events. The calendar is set to include the ‘Recipes for Change’ series of lunchtime discussions, the ‘Park Nights’ experimental interdisciplinary commissions and, of course, the annual fundraising Summer Party.

And in the meantime, lead architect Sumayya Vally has promised us a ‘cascade of dialogues, events, programmes and fragments of the Pavilion’ which will pop up physically and online throughout 2020. With its themes of ecology, environment and community, both the Pavilion itself and the events surrounding it are sure to be some of the cultural highlights of the coming year.