Serpentine Sackler Gallery London

London: Serpentine Sackler Gallery

Adventures in Art - Zaha Hadid's new Sackler Gallery project displays curvy creativity

Daniel Allen

Serpentine Sackler Gallery, Kensington Gardens, London, UK — Sackler Gallery, Kensington Gardens, London

Goods From Japan delivered to your home or business. — Goods From Japan delivered to your home or business

London may be suffering from a prolonged spell of economic belt-tightening, but the new Zaha Hadid-designed Serpentine Sackler Gallery, which opened in the British capital in late September 2013, is the perfect architectural pick-me-up. With 900 square metres of new gallery, restaurant and social space, the eye-catching structure in Kensington Gardens is already proving a popular cultural destination in the heart of the city.

Sackler Gallery, London, UK — Sackler Gallery

Magazine Makeover

Hadid's £14.5 million makeover gives new life to The Magazine, a former gunpowder store dating back to 1805, located a stone's throw from the Serpentine Gallery on the north side of Serpentine Bridge. It will allow co-directors Julia Peyton-Jones and Hans-Ulrich Obrist to roll out a much wider arts and culture offering; their plans for the Sackler involve contemporary art, architecture, dance, design, fashion, film, literature, music, performance and technology.

The Sackler project comprises two distinct and contrasting parts. The first - the conversion of the existing building into a new suite of galleries - has seen the two soaring brick-vaulted powder stores at the heart of The Magazine removed and fitted with discrete lighting. Meanwhile, a circuit of top-lit exhibition space of a more conventional scale and finish has been established around the perimeter.

Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London, UK — Serpentine Sackler Gallery

Extension

The second part of the Sackler modernization is far more dramatic, with Hadid adding a curvaceous new extension as a contemporary counterpoint. Like a wedding marquee battling with a stiff breeze, the structure billows and eddies, swooping down to meet the ground at three points along its perimeter, before shooting up again in improbable gymnastic leaps.

"We wanted to use a new materiality," explained Hadid, who opted for a PTFE-coated, glass-fibre woven fabric membrane for the exterior skin. "It looks temporary, but is actually attached to the existing building in a really light way."

Describing the contrast between the new and old structures, Hadid continued: "We don't look forward by looking backwards. It is necessary sometimes to be able to match and be adjacent to historic buildings. The idea here was to really prove that you can have these two worlds, which are the new and the old, and then the garden and the park together in a seamless way."

Interior

"This structure is meant to be a very contemporary light touch that leaves the existing structure autonomous," added senior designer Patrick Schumacher. "I think we have achieved the acuity of space and structure, of sculptural elegance, lightness and transparency."

The interior of the new building is geared around a series of sculptural columns that scoop down from the roof like milk pouring from a pitcher and terminate in elliptical skylights - by far the most successful and elegant element of the parametric structure. The glass walls attempt to make the roof look as if it is floating weightlessly - in a way that would have been familiar to modernist architects such as Brazilian Oscar Niemeyer.

The building was designed by Zaha Hadid — Sackler Gallery, London

Sackler Gallery

The Sackler Gallery is named after Dr. Mortimer and Dame Theresa Sackler, whose Foundation made the project possible through the largest single gift received by the Serpentine Gallery in its 43-year history. Major funding has also been awarded by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Bloomberg is a long term supporter of the Serpentine, as well as a sponsor of the gallery's opening exhibition.

The Serpentine Gallery itself has championed new ideas in contemporary art since it opened in 1970. It has presented the exhibitions of 1,600 artists, from the work of emerging practitioners to the most internationally recognised artists and architects such as Frank Gehry, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Gerhard Richter, Yoko Ono, Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei.