Come to the Table

Emerging like a wooden sunflower amongst the luscious green of Kensington Gardens is this year’s Serpentine Pavilion. Designed by French Lebanese architect, Lina Ghotmeh, À Table is a low profile yet prominent structure, crafted out of birch plywood and glulam (glued laminated timber). As well as sustainable materials, it was designed to be easily deconstructed and rebuilt at another location in the future. 

Indeed, the pavilion is a reaction to the times we live in, where conversations around sustainability, politics and community are as frequent as questions about the weather. It is a space inspired by Ghotmeh’s upbringing, À Table being a French call to gather around a table to share a conversation and a meal. Enclosed by intricately carved wooden panels, a dark, stained wooden table circles the space, inviting visitors to dwell in peace. Ghotmeh spoke to Grimshaw Foundation about nature, light and the power of simple gatherings.  

Q: How did you choose your materials? The different types of wood, for instance, and the way they relate to the surroundings? 

A: The Pavilion is located in Kensington Gardens and the colonnades and wooden ribbed framework of the building echo the surrounding trees. The Pavilion's shape contains the memory of the location thanks to the arched curve of the plan, which mimics the shapes of the tree canopies.

The choice of the material is also governed by the nature of the pavilion itself, a lightweight, assembled structure that takes its origin in this site but that will find another life assembled elsewhere. It is also responding to the challenges [in designing sustainably] of our times.

Q: Could you talk about the title ‘À Table’ and the importance of gathering? Do you see this as a universal idea or a particularly French idea (Brits might be more likely to gather ‘à pub’)?

A: The Pavilion focuses on maximising the usable space, providing a generous platform for interactions and programming. The soul of the Pavilion is the live programmes and the life that will be generated over the course of its activation. Its concentric design, spacious interior, and the presence of a table invite people to gather and sit freely around it as they wait for the heart's events to unfold.

“À table” is an invitation [to all] to freely dialogue and debate.

Q: From above, the folded roof looks sun-like - or like a sunflower, and from the inside the structure is reflected in the floorboards - the hole in the centre allows the sunlight to shine through - can you talk a bit about light?

A: The materiality of the Pavilion's space is brought about by light. Although only one material was used to construct the Pavilion, when exposed to light, it exhibits a variety of colours and textures. The ceiling ribs have a more striking hue than the warm wood shade that the colonnade construction displays. 

The central opening is designed to allow light to penetrate the warm space inside and the fretted panels, weave a textile like envelop to the Pavilion. On a sunny afternoon, as light hits the envelop, the pavilion floods with the shadow of the interwoven patterns of the envelop as if a knitted textile gowns the space. The porosity of the space comes into play and the Pavilion acts as such as an instrument to experience the surrounding nature. 

Q: Finally, a question we ask artists, architects, and the students the Foundation works with in our workshops - What does creativity mean to you?

The ability to reimagine what already exists is important to me and so is generating the unexpected, which stirs discussion and provokes thought. To create an environment via design that encourages imagination, social interaction and creativity.

Lina Ghotmeh's Serpentine Pavilion, À Table, is open to visitors at Serpentine South Gallery in Kensington Gardens until 29th October 2023.

By Elise Nwokedi