Architectural Photography: Serpentine Pavillion by Sou Fujimoto

“If you can imagine trying to build a cloud out of sticks, this is it. (…)” – Edwin Heathcote, Financial Times

Every year since the year 2000, the Serpentine Gallery in London has commissioned international architects to design a pavilion. This year, Sou Fujimoto’s Cloud Pavilion graced the front lawn of the gallery’s Kensington Gardens location.

This was one of the sights I was most excited to photograph in our short time in the UK. On our first evening in London, we hoofed it through Hyde Park to the Gallery with the gear only to find out that we had only 5 minutes before it closed, hence no images from the inside. We had done extensive planning and research for the locations we wanted to shoot on the trip, but the fact that the Pavilion was only open till 6 had somehow never come up. In fact, not only was the pavilion closed to the public, but there was actually a private event on that evening and the place was soon teeming with cocktail party-goers. I was initially a little disappointed that we wouldn’t get to photograph the gridded structure all ethereal and empty in the twilight, but in the end I think it was for the best. After all, the whole point of a pavilion is to be used and enjoyed by people, and if said people are well-dressed and sipping champagne, well – it can’t hurt, can it?

Non-image-related highlight of the shoot for me: being mistaken for a paparazzo. Ha!