Japanese architect Junya Ishigami on his London Serpentine pavilion and China, a ‘good place to be working’
- Ishigami’s summer pavilion at Britain’s Serpentine Gallery is a cloud of nebulous grey slate that appears to float – typical of his dreamlike structures
- The 45-year-old is excited about his projects in China, including a water-themed cultural centre, a chapel rising out of a valley, and an open-air school
Whether he is working on a landmark project in the heart of London for hundreds of thousands of visitors, or a kindergarten in China for a few hundred children at a time, Junya Ishigami says every one of his projects needs to incorporate scenery both inside and outside the structure. He wants to create his own perception of nature.
The 45-year-old has been in the headlines after being selected to build this year’s summer pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery in London, which opened to the public on Thursday for a three-and-a-half-month run. He is also juggling numerous projects around the world, in places including Moscow, Sydney and in particular China, where he is engaged in at least four projects.
Ask him for exact numbers, however, and he candidly admits he’s not sure how many schemes his firm, Junya Ishigami and Associates, is working on in China, a nation waking up to his talents.
“By chance we seem to have a lot of projects in China all of a sudden,” Ishigami says. “And China is a good place to be working, but the most important part of any project anywhere in the world is the philosophy of the client. In China, there are a lot of developers who are making very boring projects, but our clients are very interesting.”
“Boring” is certainly not a term that can be attached to Ishigami and his work since he emerged onto the international architectural scene.