Secret Garden

I missed last year's Summer Pavillion at the Serpentine Gallery, probably because I didn't go to any Proms last year, and that is only reason that I would normally be in the area. So this year I made sure to go along and have a look on my way to the Albert Hall for the first Prom of the season.

This year's offering is from Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. Entitled hortus conclusus ("enclosed garden"), from the outside it is appears as a simple low, black building with featureless doorway openings reached by roughly cast curved concrete pathways which snake across the lawns. Inside you are confronted by a dark, narrow corridor which runs around the whole building. The openings to the interior are offset from the main entrances, creating the impression of a labyrinth. Inside is a long rectangular courtyard with a deep overhanging roof and a splendid garden of herbacious plants. There is a bench, in the same black stained boarding as the rest of the building, around the outside, and plenty of additional chairs, stools and tables. It feels like a cafe, and there are quite a few people just sitting around and chatting. Unlike in some of the other "grander" pavillions, I didn't feel at all self-conscious sitting here for a while and contemplating the building, its garden, and the other people there.

I quite liked this pavillion. The simple, dark, sculptural lines on the outside, and the soft, enclosed garden inside. It seemed more popular than other recent pavillions. It is not exactly a private space (as I think the architect intended), but it manages to be a reasonably personal one, and doesn't have the feeling of being a corporate entertainment venue which some of the others have (even if that is what it it will also be used for).