The Serpentine Pavilion 2009 has won the Award for Small Projects at the prestigious Structural Awards 2010 and we are honoured to have contributed to this award by manufacturing and installing the beautiful 2009 Pavilion, as well as providing our input in the development of the design. The Structural Awards celebrate excellence in structural engineering and are organised by the Institution of Structural Engineers.
The structure, designed by Tokyo based architects, SANAA, was constructed using a sandwich panel technique, comprising a composite of mirror polished aluminium skins bonded to a structural plywood core. Structural continuity was achieved by an interlocking panel solution. The form of the Pavilion was accomplished using a combination of tightly curved panels that were pre-formed in moulds at our workshop along with flatter panels that were ‘elastically’ bent on site, with the height of the columns used to restrain them in the correct shape.