Read more about the pavilion in our earlier story and watch Jacques Herzog give an exclusive tour of the pavilion at last week's private view here.

See all our stories about the annual Serpentine Gallery Pavilions »

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by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei appeared first on Dezeen.

In the film, Weiwei talks about the nature of their collaborations and how they decided to represent the imagined traces of past structures on the site with cork-lined trenches. Read more about the design in our earlier story.

Weiwei still can't leave China following his arrest and detention by the Chinese authorities last year. His partnerships with Herzog & de Meuron go back ten years and include the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing .

Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron were in London for the opening and Herzog gave us an exclusive impromptu tour of the pavilion, which you can watch here or below.

The pavilion is open to the public in Kensington Gardens until 14 October.

See all our stories about Ai Weiwei »
See all our stories about Herzog & de Meuron »
See photos of the pavilion and read more about it in our earlier story »
See photos from the press preview on our Facebook page »
See the initial designs for the pavilion » 
See all our stories about the annual Serpentine Gallery Pavilions »

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Gallery Pavilion appeared first on Dezeen.

In the movie, Herzog explains his jealousy that the fact that his office had worked in London before ruled them out of the Serpentine commission - which goes to architects that have never built before in the UK - and his delight at the ruse employed by the Serpentine Gallery to get around this: by teaming up with Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, their co-collaboraotor on the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing, to form a team that satisfied the rules.

Herzog also explains why they decided to bury the pavilion in the ground beneath a raised pool of water and why they based the design on the imagined archaeology of the previous pavilions that had occupied the site.

See photos of the pavilion and read more about it in our earlier story »
See photos from the press preview this morning on on our Facebook page »
See the initial designs for the pavilion » 
See all our stories about the annual Serpentine Gallery Pavilions »
See all our stories about Herzog & de Meuron »
See all our stories about Ai Weiwei »

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Gallery Pavilion appeared first on Dezeen.

Here are some photographs of the completed 2012 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, which opens to the public in London tomorrow.

The base of the pavilion is sunken beneath the lawn of Kensington Gardens, where the imagined previously buried foundations of the past eleven annual pavilions have been  unearthed and lined with cork to form a network of trenches.

Twelve columns are positioned amongst these channels, representing each of the pavilions past and present, and supporting a circular roof.

A pool of water covers the roof, but can be drained into an excavated well to provide an elevated viewing platform or dance floor.

Cork-covered stools shaped like mushrooms provide seating for visitors underneath this canopy.

The temporary pavilion will be open until 14 October.

See more shots from the press preview in our Facebook album.

Jacques Herzog gave us a private tour of the building earlier today, which we'll publish on Dezeen soon.

The twelfth annual pavilion follows previous structures by architects including Peter Zumthor, Jean Nouvel, SANAA and Frank Gehry.

You can see images of them all here, watch our interview with Peter Zumthor at the opening of last year’s pavilion on Dezeen Screen and read even more about the pavilions in our Dezeen Book of Ideas.

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Photography is by Jim Stephenson.

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Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei appeared first on Dezeen.

The press preview of this year's Serpentine Gallery Pavilion by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei is today. See some photos of this morning's preparations on our Facebook page.

See the designs for the pavilion in our earlier story »
See all our stories about the annual Serpentine Gallery Pavilions »
See all our stories about Herzog & de Meuron »
See all our stories about Ai Weiwei »

The post Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012 by
Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei appeared first on Dezeen.