Hauser & Wirth & Drawing Matter in Somerset

Posted on October 5, 2017 by Toothpicker

Hauser & Wirth Somerset

One day I receive an interesting newsletter from Architecture Foundation regarding a day trip to Somerset, visiting Hauser & Wirth and the nearby Drawing Matter. I had no idea that The 2014 Serpentine Pavilion designed by Chilean architect Smiljan Radić had been relocated to Hauser & Wirth Somerset in 2015. It is one of my favourite pavilions, so I was glad that it found a new home in a beautiful environment. Since both venues are difficult to reach without a car, it was a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

The weather was rather inconsistent throughout the day, and at one point, the sky turned grey and rained quite heavily. Luckily, the sky cleared before we reached the destination, and we even drove by the famous Stonehenge.

Driving past Stonehenge

Often Londoners live in the ‘London bubble’ and are slightly oblivious of the world outside of it. I am no exception. Luckily, I have lived in different parts of England before, so I do enjoy venturing out of the city and explore other parts of the U.K. And since I went to a boarding school in Somerset for two years when I was a teenager, I have some fond memories of this area. Interestingly, I also attended my good friend’s wedding in the nearby Bourton in June, so I felt nice to be back here.

I actually didn’t know about the existence of Hauser & Wirth Somerset until this trip, and apparently Bruton –where it is situationed– is now one of the most sought-after town in Somerset.

Opened in 2014, Hauser & Wirth Somerset is a farmhouse-converted contemporary art gallery and multi-purpose arts centre. The land consists of a group of Grade II listed farm buildings including a farmhouse, cow sheds, stables, a piggery, a threshing barn, fields and woodland. As well as refurbishing the dilapidated farm buildings, two new wings were added to connect the buildings by Paris-based and Argentinian-trained Luis Laplace, and the result is very impressive.

Laplace has done a remarkable job in restoring the farm buildings and in creating a contrasting but harmonious balance with the new additions. I love the wooden roof beams, stone walls, barn doors and bright gallery space. Currently, there are two exhibitions showing at the gallery: Josephsohn/ Markli’s ‘A Conjunction’ and Rita Ackermann’s ‘Turning Air Blue’ (both until 1st January 2018).

Top & 2nd left: Swiss Sculptor Hans Josephsohn’s sculptures; 2nd right & 3rd row: Swiss architect Peter Markli’s architectural drawings; Bottom row: Rita Ackermann’s ‘Turning Air Blue’ exhibition

Aside from the art galleries, there is a bookshop and another shop selling artisan crafts and designs that are made locally. Roth Bar & Grill is a restaurant/cafe/bar focusing on sustainable and seasonal produce from the on-site farm and kitchen Garden. And at the back of the lawn is the restored six-bedroom 18th century Durslade Farmhouse which is available for rental.

For me, the highlight of the venue is the stunning garden designed by Piet Oudolf, the internationally-renowned landscape designer from the Netherlands. Oudolf is a leading figure of the “New Perennial” movement, and is responsible for New York’s famous High Line.

I am not a gardener or a garden expert, but I do love his naturalistic approach to gardening. The variety of species and combination and his method of planting differ from the classical European and English gardens, and it is a real joy to wander around the unostentatious and relaxing garden.

Situated at the back of the garden is the Radić pavilion, which I think looks splendid in Oudolf‘s garden. Inspired by the primitive nature of Romantic-style follies, the pavilion is an odd-looking structure made of fibreglass. The structure is unlike any architecture that I have seen before, and it breaks many ‘rules’, so I am sure it does not appeal to everyone. Personally, I find the bulbous shape comforting and enchanting; it is playful, archaic and futuristic at the time. It doesn’t seem to belong to any time period, which I think is quite groundbreaking.

Sadly, our time at Hauser & Wirth was limited and we had to take the coach and head towards our next destination: Drawing Matters.

Founded by Niall Hobhouse – a collector of architectural drawings, sketches and models – loosely based on the master plan by Cedric Price, Drawing Matter focuses on architectural drawings and models from the 16^th to the 21^st century, assembled over the last twenty-one years.

Located at Shatwell, the site comprises a small collection of buildings around a working farmyard in a valley. We visited the Archive on its open day, otherwise it is usually open by appointment to tutor-led groups of students, architects, and researchers only.

Unlike the more polished Hauser & Wirth, this farm site is an ongoing project and there isn’t much to see except for The Archive, the Hadspen Obelisk by Peter Smithson, and a shipping container that has been converted into a mini library full of books on architecture and landscape design.

Since most of the people in the group were architects, they were ecstatic to see hand-drawn architectural drawings by famous architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, and models by contemporary architects. The drawings on display at the Archive on the day were just a small selection of work, which are part of their current curatorial and exhibition projects in the UK and abroad. And if you want to see the vast collection, you can check out their online collection via their website.

Top: the Archive, 2nd row: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959), Drawing for the ‘Eaglefeather’ estate for Arch Oboler in the Santa Monica Mountains, 1940. 3rd row: Androuet du Cerceau; 6th row: Nobuo Sekine‘s ‘Phase of Nothingness’; Bottom row: the office

After spending some time going through the drawings, we were treated with free coffee and cakes by the friendly owner of Chapel Cross coffee room. Then we wandered around the site, and came across Alison and Peter Smithson’s Obelisk. Originally conceived in 1984 for an urban site in Siena, then reworked in 1994 as a woven spiral called the Inlook Tower. Another chapter in the work’s history saw it erected on the estate of Hadspen House, Castle Cary in 2002.

Before we set off, I walked up to the top of the valley and ramble across the fields. The view of the Somerset countryside from the top of the valley was breathtaking. As the dark clouds started to approach us and rain started to fall, it was finally time to leave.

The architecture-related trip was a rewarding one, and it reminded me how interesting life can be outside of London. I have visited many parts of the U.K. this year, and I will continue to do so in the future because there is just still so much to see and explore.

Serpentine Pavilion & Grayson Perry’s exhibition 2017

Posted on July 9, 2017 by Toothpicker

This year’s Serpentine pavilion is designed by Diébédo Francis Kéré, the Berlin-based African architect from Gando, Burkina Faso.

Inspired by the tree that serves as a central meeting point for life in his home town of Gando, Francis Kéré‘s design aims to connect its visitors to nature – and each other. The expansive wooden roof is supported by a central steel framework, and it mimics a tree’s canopy, allowing air to circulate freely while offering shelter against London rain and summer heat. In the case of rain, an oculus funnels water from the roof into a spectacular waterfall effect, before it is evacuated through a drainage system in the floor for later use in irrigating the park.

In my opinion, this pavilion is a more back-to-basic one compared to the previous few. It is neither conspicuous nor insipid; it is simple, low-tech but heedful and inviting. I particularly like the subtle African influence: the indigo blue timber screened walls and the intricate canopy roof patterns that resemble the texture of a woven cloth.

Before my visit, I had little expectations as the photographs of the pavilion didn’t appeal to me very much. Yet my opinion changed as soon as arrived, and I realised that the photos don’t do the structure justice. It is necessary to walk around it and sit inside/outside of it to fully appreciate this open and humane pavilion that employs design to connect people with nature and each other.

Inside the Serpentine Gallery, a new exhibition Grayson Perry: The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever! is currently showing until 10th Sept. As one of the most astute commentators on contemporary society and culture in Britain, Perry‘s works at the show focus on many themes including politics, sexuality, injustice, and social issues. Perry has always enjoyed being controversial; and he has worked with various traditional media like tapestry, pottery and woodcuts etc, which can all be seen at this show.

I thought Perry‘s previous tapestry series “The Vanity of Small Differences” (2012) on Britain’s classes and aesthetic tastes was fascinating, and so were the entertaining TV programmes that accompanied the series. However, I didn’t enjoy this show at all as I found the works to be quite superficial. His current popularity status and works remind me of Andy Warhol at the peak of his career – both are excellent marketers of their own brand. There are some arresting works at the show, but others are repetitive, intentionally kitsch, and rather shallow. Has it got to do with the curator’s choice or has Perry run out of new ideas?

Once upon a time, art used to be influential and awe-inspiring; sadly, our narcissistic and celebrity-obsessed society has changed the arts and cultural landscape immensely. Today, art is about business and profits, and it is why the contemporary art scene is so banal, meaningless and irrelevant.

Serpentine pavilion & Summer Houses 2016

Posted on July 26, 2016 by Toothpicker

Serpentine Pavilion by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)

This year, the 16th Serpentine Pavilion (10th Jun until 9th Oct 2016) is designed by Danish architectural studio BIG, or Bjarke Ingels Group. In addition to the main pavilion, four 25sqm summer houses inspired by the nearby 18th century Queen Caroline’s Temple are commissioned and built by architects who have yet to build a permanent building in England.

From afar, the towering pavilion looks less striking than some of the previous ones. Yet it becomes more intriguing as you get closer… when you realise that the structure is made up of stacked rectangular fibreglass boxes. The ‘unzipped wall’ creates a cave-like canyon, and it is fascinating when you look up inside the structure. It somehow reminds me of Muji’s transparent stackable storage units!

Summer house designed by Barkow Leibinger

Like the main pavilion, the four temporary summer houses around English landscape architect William Kent‘s Queen Caroline’s Temple are also available sale, but at lower costs of £95,000 or £125,000.

American/German architectural practice Barkow Leibinger‘s summerhouse is inspired by William Kent’s other 18th century pavilion that once stood in the park, but is no longer standing. The small pavilion rotated mechanically 360 degrees at the top of the hill, offering various panoramic views of the park. Here, the architects created a curvy structure based on the idea of coiling material in your hands then stacking the coils upon each other.

Summer house designed by Kunlé Adeyemi

Nigerian architect Kunlé Adeyemi designed an inverse replica of the Queen Caroline’s Temple directly opposite it. The structure is made of prefabricated building blocks assembled from rough sandstone similar to those used in the temple. Its clever deconstructed design offers visitors a space for shelter and relaxation.

Top to 3rd row left: Summer house designed by Asif Khan; 3rd row right & bottom three rows: Summer house designed by Yona Friedman

The third house is designed by British architect Asif Khan, whose structure traces back to Kent’s original idea 300 years ago: to catch sunlight reflected off the nearby Serpentine lake annually on Queen Caroline’s birthday. Khan‘s new design comprises 100 white timber staves, white gravels, and a polished metal platform and roof in the middle. Conceived as a Tea House, visitors can sit inside and enjoy sunlight and the surrounding scenery.

The fourth house – and my favourite – is design by the 93 year-old Hungarian-born French architect Yona Friedman. The architect is best known for his theory of mobile architecture that started in the 1950s. His house is inspired by his project La Ville Spatiale (Spatial City) in 1959, which was based on two principles: firstly, a mobile architecture that could create an elevated city space and enable the growth of cities while restraining the use of land; secondly, the use of modular structures to allow people to live in housing of their own design.

Here, the modular structure composed of cubes can be assembled and disassembled in different formations. It also acts as a movable museum and exhibition space, where part of the cubes can support transparent polycarbonate panels and showcase different artworks or objects. I love this structure for its tribal-inspired concept and simplicity, and I find the geometric shapes very enticing especially against the blue sky.

Elytra filament pavilion at the V & A museum

Nearby at the V & A Museum, a newly-commissioned outdoor installation, Elytra Filament Pavilion (until 6 November) is created by architects (Achim Menges and Moritz Dörstelmann) and engineers (Jan Knippers and Thomas Auer) at the research institutes of University of Stuttgart.

The design is inspired by the lightweight construction principles found in nature, the filament structures of the forewing shells of flying beetles known as elytra. Made of glass and carbon fibre, each component of the undulating canopy is produced using an innovative robotic winding technique developed by the designers. The ‘growing’ shelter collects data on how visitors inhabit the pavilion and monitors the structure’s behaviour while it is on display. This is another marvelous pavilion that is not to be missed!

Serpentine pavilion 2015

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Toothpicker

I had visited five Serpentine Pavilions prior to this one, and the designs had been a mix bag with some more successful/popular than others. I loved last year’s pavilion by Chilean architect Smiljan Radić (read my entry here), even though I wasn’t entirely convinced before my visit.

This year’s pavilion, designed by Spanish architectural studio Selgascano (José Selgas and Lucía Cano), has been criticised by critics and public as “the worst Serpentine Gallery Pavilion ever” and “trash bag monster” (Ouch), so is it really that awful? I was curious to see it for myself.

I ended up visiting the pavilion twice. The first visit confirmed my initial skepticism, I did not like it. Yes, it is colourful and summery, but it also looks cheap ( it is made of ETFE plastic), tenuous and messy. After wandering around for about ten minutes, I took a few snapshots and left.

A few weeks later, I was back at the pavilion again on a lovely sunny day. Perhaps it was the sun or my uplifted mood, but I began to appreciate the playful and experimental aspects of pavilion.

Since the pavilion is not a permanent structure, the use of cheap material seems to make sense now. And unlike the more refined and prodigious structures by other star architects, this one is more daring, feminine, crude and ephemeral. I don’t think the pavilion can be considered an outstanding one, but perhaps like last year’s pavilion, it challenges us to re-evaluate our perceptions and preconceptions of architecture.

The pavilion will close on 18th October, so there is still plenty of time to wander, ponder, and decide for yourself whether you see it as plastic trash or a fun rainbow tunnel.

Serpentine gallery pavilion 2014

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Toothpicker

The Serpentine Pavilion 2014 by Smiljan Radić

I have a backlog of blog entries and this is one of them as I want to publish it before the pavilion gets dismantled after next week ( and apology for the rather dark photographs).

It took me a while to visit the new Serpentine gallery pavilion designed by Chilean architect Smiljan Radić (until 19th October). At first glance, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this odd pebble/rock-like structure (for some, it looks more like an egg or UFO). Walking around it, I began to appreciate its organic shape and the seemingly random rocks that support it. Yet what fascinated me most is the thinness of the GRP fibreglass shell and the curvy mushroom-like interior.

When I first saw the photographs of this papier mache-inspired pavilion before my visit, like many others, I thought that the pavilion looks quite ugly, especially when compared to the previous pavilions by more established architects. Yet when I was there, I was quite mesmorised by this ‘ugly’ structure. It stands out for me because it is completely different from the design-oriented pavilions from the past. For some reason, the structure and its surrounding remind me of the Japanese rock garden, there is something quite primitive and zen/ wabi sabi quality about it.

While architecture these days is predominantly developed based on aesthetics elements and forms, Radić has proposed and developed something opposite. He challenges viewers/visitors to see architecture differently, and in a way, it strips away the aesthetic value, placing it low in priority. And this why I think this pavilion is the most challenging and thought-provoking pavilion that I have seen for years. The architect said that it is also partially inspired by Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant, and the the romantic, transformative power of follies. To me, it is almost like an giant art sculpture, it feels raw, poetic and calming. Don’t judge this pavilion from the photographs, you need to visit it (without the crowds) to feel its presence and appreciate its uniqueness.

And for those who are still not convinced, all I can say is that, ‘Beauty in the eye of the beholder‘.

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013

Posted on June 23, 2013 by Toothpicker

This year, the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion is designed by multi award-winning Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, and it is quite different from the previous pavilions.

Since its opening, it has been receiving high praises from critics and I also think it is one of the best that I have seen in recent years. Even though I did like Jean Nouvel‘s bold, striking and slightly imposing pavilion in 2010 ( see below) , I think this pavilion works better overall because not only it blends well with the environment ( which is the architect’s objective), it also feels spacious and comfortable whether you are sitting inside or out. A very sharp contrast from last year’s!

I was very disappointed by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei‘s pavilion last year, it was very dark inside and boring to look at from the outside. I guess I expected much more from two of top contemporary working architects and the provocative artist. I actually felt that it was one of the least successful pavilion since the project begun, but that is just my opinion.

Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei’s pavilion 2012

As always, architecture can be very subjective, but from what I observed at the site, people interacted very positively with the structure. Some were eager to explore ( both adults and children), some were happy to just sit on the steps and read, while others enjoyed the rather pricey coffee or tea ( catered by Fortnum & Mason) inside with their friends. Yet the most ‘entertaining’ part was when a Mainland Chinese photographer ( yes, I can tell) brought two ‘models’ and made them pose on the structure. One of them was wearing pink from head to toe, unsurprisingly, her sharp outfit made all heads turn. As it turned out, the pavilion is also a wonderful backdrop for aspiring fashion photographers!

Love it or loathe it? See it for yourself…

Jean Nouvel’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2010

The temporary pavilion will stay open until 20 October 2013.

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