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Design

This Trippy "Unzipped Wall" Is the Perfect Place to Party

The 16th annual Serpentine Pavilion pops off today, and Bjarke Ingels Group's garden wall deconstruction is a great spot for a drink.
Serpentine Pavilion 2016 designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG); (10 June – 9 October); Photo © Iwan Baan

When he's not defining Manhattan's skyline, thinking of ways to shelter the city from hurricanes with a public park, or making smoke stacks that blow rings, starchitect Bjarke Ingels still finds time to participate in one of experimental architecture's biggest parties, the annual Serpentine Pavilion. Today, Bjark Ingels Group's trippy design for an "unzipped wall" that's both solid and hollow opens up in London's Hyde Park, and it looks like a swell place to have a drink.

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Ingels described it as a, "simple manipulation of the archetypical space-defining garden wall creates a presence in the Park that changes as you move around it and through it," in a press release when the pavilion was announced. After your sixth Aperol Spritz, this straight-out-of-Inception setting would be confusing in the best sort of way; it would become a challenge to navigate an ever-shifting landscape that's see-through from one side and solid from the other. Not to mention that you'd have to fight the temptation to climb its facade.

Serpentine Pavilion 2016 designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG); (10 June – 9 October); Photo © Iwan Baan

Alongside the pavilion are a series of summer houses designed by four renowned architects Serpentine Gallery recruited to compliment the nearby Queen Caroline’s Temple. They also look like a joy to develop a buzz beside, offering lots of nooks and crannies for that quick 50ml of chartreuse. The pavilion includes a cafe and a stage for live events throughout the summer, offering lots of chances to be inebriated in beautiful places designed by Asif KhanKunlé AdeyemiBarkow Leibinger, and Yona Friedman.

Last year the Serpentine Pavilion was designed by Selgas Cano, a Spanish firm that created an eco-friendly web of recycled plastic rainbows that seemed more suited for psychedelics than a solid drunk. Click here for our previous coverage of Bjarke Ingels Group's Serpentine Pavilion, and check more pictures from the pavilion and summer houses below.

Serpentine Pavilion 2016 designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG); (10 June – 9 October); Photo © Iwan Baan

Serpentine Pavilion 2016 designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG); (10 June – 9 October); Photo © Iwan Baan

Serpentine Summer House 2016 designed by Kunlé Adeyemi (NLÉ); (10 June – 9 October); Photo © Iwan Baan

Serpentine Summer House 2016 designed by Kunlé Adeyemi (NLÉ); (10 June – 9 October); Photo © Iwan Baan

Serpentine Summer House 2016 designed by Yona Friedman; (10 June – 9 October); Photo © Iwan Baan

Serpentine Summer House 2016 designed by Barkow Leibinger; (10 June – 9 October); Photo © Iwan Baan

Serpentine Summer House 2016 designed by Asif Khan; (10 June – 9 October); Photo © Iwan Baan

Queen Caroline's Temple, Kensington Gardens, London; Photo by Garry Knight

See more of Bjarke Ingels Group's work on their website, and learn more about the Serpentine Galleries here.

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