"Our path to an alternative solution involves digging down some five feet into the soil of the park until we reach the groundwater," say Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei. "There we dig a waterhole, a kind of well, to collect all of the London rain that falls in the area of the Pavilion. In that way we incorporate an otherwise invisible aspect of reality in the park – the water under the ground – into our Pavilion. As we dig down into the earth we encounter a diversity of constructed realities such as telephone cables and former foundations."
The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion will operate as a public space and as a venue for Park Nights, the Gallery's high-profile programme of public talks and events. Connecting to the archaeological focus of the Pavilion design, Park Nights will culminate in October with the Serpentine Gallery Memory Marathon, the latest edition of the annual Serpentine Marathon series conceived by Hans Ulrich Obrist, now in its seventh year.
Through 14 October 2012
The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012, designed by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei
Serpentine Gallery
Kensington Gardens, London