Movie: gallery director Julia Peyton-Jones describes the reflective aluminium Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, created by Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA in 2009, as "strange and gorgeous" in this exclusive movie.
Photograph by Edmund Sumner
Sejima and Nishizawa's pavilion in 2009 featured a canopy made from aluminium-faced plywood floating on hundreds of slender stainless steel columns.
Photograph by Edmund Sumner
"Their pavilion was so strange and gorgeous," says Peyton-Jones in the movie. "They had this swooping canopy, which was something that was very important to them."
Photograph by Nick Guttridge
The canopy, which was shaped to curve around trees on the site, was polished on both sides so that it reflected the park when viewed from below and the sky from above. Photograph by Luke Hayes
"I think what was so fascinating about the SANAA proposal was that it really embraced the parkland setting and this peculiar English weather we have throughout the summer," Peyton-Jones says.

Related story: Frank Gehry's wooden Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in 2008 was "hugely hefty"

"When it rained, it was really gorgeous and when the sun shone it was also sublime. There was no perfect moment to see the pavilion."
Photograph by Nick Guttridge
She continues: "It was fascinating to see it as it merged into the landscape, depending on the weather, and fascinating to...