28 July 2009

Canopy Culture

Our UK correspondent Alaana Fitzpatrick explores London's latest summer obsession.

With the onset of summer in London, the pavilions and design exhibitions around the city are coming to life. And those already unveiled, provide a promising forecast for the months to come.

The Treehouse Gallery Collective – as they have come to call themselves – are an assemblage of architects, artists and visionaries, lead by Claudia Moseley and Steph Smith, who have conceived and constructed a number of tree houses in central London’s Rengent’s Park. Built from naturally sourced and reclaimed materials, the spaces are intended to open the minds of Londoners and visitors alike.

The team hopes the installation “will act as a catalyst to ignite the collective imagination, encouraging adults and children alike to explore a variety of creative responses to nature.”

A series of exhibitions, lectures, workshops and performances are set to take place in the dramatic spaces across July and August until the structures are demounted and the spectacle packed away for the winter.

thetreehousegallery.org

(Photography of the construction by Henry Adams)

Also on – from 12 July until 18 October 2009 – is the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in Hyde Park. An annual initiative, running since 2000, that sees world class architects contributing to the London urban landscape. This year, award-winning architects, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of leading Japanese architecture practice SANAA, have conjured up an oscillating platform that provides a luminous shelter for reflection, inspiration and simple pleasures.

serpentinegallery.org