Mi spiace di non avere il tempo di tradurre e approfondire questa notizia, per me strabiliante, ma ora ho vagamente il tempo di fare niente a parte il dovere.
Si tratta del padiglione temporaneo che ogni anno la Serpentine Gallery di Londra fa allestire a un architetto, quest’anno il mio idolo Peter Zumthor in collaborazione con l’altro (mio idolo) Piet Oudolf. Non uso mezzi termini perché non ho tempo di trovarli e anche perché quando si intravede la materia vera occorre celebrarla come si deve.
Si tratta, a vederlo bene, di una serie di luoghi uno dentro l’altro: la grande città, Londra, con dentro il grande parco, Hyde Park, con una porzione, i Kensington Gardens, e un’architettura scura e muta che fa da scrigno a una striscia fiorita preziosa sotto un’unica fetta di cielo. Qui trovate notizie e immagini; qui c’è un articolo più incentrato su Oudolf. Su quest’altro sito c’è un bel video
Interview: Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2011 by Peter Zumthor from Dezeen on Vimeo.
con il testo interamente trascritto qui:
My name is Peter Zumthor, Zumthor meaning “by the gate,” a nice name for an architect I think. I started out in my father’s shop as a cabinetmaker, and slowly slowly … now I’m an architect. I’m a passionate architect, and I think it’s a beautiful profession. I do not work for money. I don’t go for commercial projects, I go for projects where I can put my heart into it, and which I think are worthwhile doing.
Gardens have become more and more important for me, working as an architect. When I was young I enjoyed them but not really consciously. The older I get, the interest becomes more keen and I want to be close to gardens, and I want to be into the gardens, so my work reflects this kind of desire to know more about it, and to integrate the garden or maybe even make the garden as a centrepiece and the architecture just a frame.
I make a building which acts as a stage. The garden is in the centre, and not you, not me, and not anybody else, we are around the garden, not in the garden. I think everybody understands right away what this would mean, and many of know, have some vague knowledge that an enclosed garden — there is something beautiful about it.
I made this frame and asked the landscape architect Piet Oudolf to do this, and he did a marvellous job. So there was no concept discussion of “what are you going to do” and “I want to see this” and so on. I trusted him. He surprised me with this wonderful wild garden with a lot of beautiful flowers you would find on the edge of a field or the edge of woods and so on. So there’s a statement I think, or maybe there’s no statement. It depends.
This garden is a typological piece; it’s a type. It’s not a context piece. So in a way this kind of garden, this kind of viewing, this device, can be anywhere. Somebody buys this and puts it up somewhere else, so it cannot be a piece of the place. So this piece is sort of a more eternal piece, it comes from afar. And if you put it up somewhere else, it would have other plans, other sky, and another climate. So let’s see what happens. I think chances are good it will be put up again, and I will see then what’s in it.
Per finire, volevo solo far notare quella cosa sublime delle due rampe di accesso al blocco nero: inizialmente sono a livello del terreno, poi man mano avvicinandosi alle porte, le stradine si alzano e arrivano all’edificio con una quota appena superiore. Brividi!
