Designwire Daily: from the editors of Interior Design magazine

Peter Zumthor Selected for 2011 Serpentine Pavilion

by Deborah Wilk | Thursday, April 14, 2011

As anyone who has leaned his or her head back with closed eyes and listened to the sound of water lapping against the slabs of Valser quartzite that compose Peter Zumthor’s Therme Vals bathhouse can attest, the Swiss-born architect is the unchallenged master of contemporary design’s visceral experience. In the 15 years since completing the Vals commission, Zumthor has continued creating some of architecture’s most admired buildings while keeping his public profile remarkably low. While his 2009 Pritzker Prize brought attention, the exceedingly private architect manages to eschew the spotlight, studiously working in his studio in Haldenstein, Switzerland, where he continues to refine his ideas about nature, material, light, and, some might speculate, the effect of these on bodies moving through space.

For the last three months, those machinations have likely been in the service of this year’s edition of the Serpetine Gallery’s annual pavilion, an 11-year-old commission for a temporary structure on the gallery grounds by a renowned architect. In an academic turn on the field’s grave permanence, the pavilion project entails a maximum of six months from conception to completion. Taking advantage of the summer installation, set to open in July, staggered doorways and darkened corridors within Zumthor’s black coated scrim-wrapped timber frame structure will lead to an interior garden by none other than Dutch landscape-design superstar Piet Oudolf. A sacred space of flowers and light, the pavilion is sure to offer a respite for weary Londoners and a new destination for design disciples. Pilgrims have until the end of October to pay homage.

Images courtesy of Serpentine Gallery.