Frida Escobedo for the Serpentine, via Serpentine
As February rolls along, thoughts turn to spring, and to the annual string of special projects, installations and architectural projects across the globe. This week, art and architecture lovers got one peak at the year’s entries of projects, as the Serpentine Galleries announced it had tapped Mexican architect Frida Escobedo to design its annual pavilion project.
Frida Escobedo, via Serpentine
Born in Mexico City in 1979, Escobedo has become the youngest architect selected for the annual commission project, which is closing in on its 20th year of operation, and is shifting focus towards more research-based selection processes, rather than selecting big names each year. Yet for the initiated, Escobedo has frequently been seen on the international circuit of architecture biennials and triennials, earning a name for herself through her attentive, subtle designs and site-based installs. This potential is illustrated masterfully in her design for the Serpentine, which will play host to screenings, talks and performances over the summer. The black, latticed walls and winding pathways will invite visitors into an open, engaged experience of the space, and reflective surfaces will allow them to suddenly see themselves in the process. “With this bold interior, Frida draws history into the present and redefines the meaning of public space,” said Serpentine Galleries director Hans Ulrich Obrist and chief executive Yana Peel.
Frida Escobedo for the Serpentine, via Serpentine
“My design for the Serpentine Pavilion 2018 is a meeting of material and historical inspirations inseparable from the city of London itself and an idea which has been central to our practice from the beginning: the expression of time in architecture through inventive use of everyday materials and simple forms,” Escobedo says of her work.
The pavilion will open this summer.
Read more:
Serpentine summer pavilion: a Mexican shadow clock built for the British breeze [Guardian]
