黑洞社区

Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto has been chosen to design this year鈥檚 Serpentine Gallery summer pavilion, with Aecom appointed as engineer and technical adviser.

At just 41, Fujimoto is the youngest architect to accept the invitation to design a temporary structure for the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens.

He has put forward a delicate latticed structure of 20mm steel poles to create a cloud-like structure which will act as a flexible, multi-purpose social space.

Past pavilions have been designed by figures including Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei last year, Frank Gehry (2008), the late Oscar Niemeyer (2003) and Zaha Hadid, who designed the inaugural structure in 2000.

Julia Peyton-Jones, director of the Serpentine and co-director Hans Ulrich Obrist, described Fujimoto as 鈥渙ne of the most fascinating architects in the world today鈥�.

They added: 鈥淎 visionary, who has conceived an extraordinary response to our invitation to design the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, Sou Fujimoto has designed a structure that will enthral everyone that encounters it throughout the summer.鈥�

Arup has held the engineer and design services role on all the previous Serpentine pavilions. However, 黑洞社区 understands Aecom鈥檚 global chief executive for building engineering David Glover - who moved to Aecom from Arup in 2011 - was instrumental in securing the role for Aecom on the project.

Glover said:  鈥淔ujimoto has designed a very complex structure.  As you would expect, the quality of the detailing and fabrication is fundamental part of the Pavilion鈥檚 design so our work will be on show for everyone to see.

鈥淲hile this has certainly generated some pressure, we also look forward to having visitors ask themselves 鈥楬ow did they manage to achieve that?鈥�