Thinking BIG with Bjarke Ingels Group, Toronto, 2018

(These images and text were published in Canadian Interiors.) Just a few blocks from Anish Kapoor’s aluminum Mountain in Toronto’s Simcoe Park stands another, even more majestic abstract peak, the Serpentine Pavilion. Designed by stellar architecture firm BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, based in Copenhagen, New York and London, the temporary structure was erected in London’s Kensington Garden in 2016, disassembled and now has touched down on King Street West as part of its first North American tour. The pavilion shimmered in the warm late-afternoon light for an event hosted by developer Westbank. The firm’s collaborations with BIG were the subject of the exhibition in the cavity of the open-air structure, which comprises 1802 stacked fibreglass “bricks” and stands 46 feet tall, 89 feet long and 39 feet wide. The pavilion will remain open to the public free of charge until Nov. 30, whereupon it will be dismantled, and Westbank will build a BIG-designed condo on site. CUTLINES: Stephan Jost, director, Art Gallery of Ontario; Ian Gillespie, founder, Westbank; and architect Bjarke Ingels, founder, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). Selena Buckle, actress, lead in Season 6, Episode 4 of CrimeTV’s Web of Lies; Jonathan Friedman, partner at Toronto architecture and design firm Partisans; fashion lawyer and trademark agent Anjli Patel; and Jaspreet Sandhu, director, loyalty and engagement, Toronto International Film Festival. Urban planner Peter Venetas; and Michael McClelland, principal, and Alexis Cohen, associate, at ERA Architects, Toronto. Daniel Fusca, senior policy advisor in the City of Toronto’s Resilience Office; former Chief City of Toronto Planner Jennifer Keesmaat, now running for mayor; and Tom Freeman, co-founder of design-industry sales-rep firm FH Group. Partisans colleagues Suzan Ibrahim, designer; Ben Salance, project manager; and Nicola Spunt, director of content and culture. From RJC Engineers, Toronto, who were part of the pavilion’s building team: Daniel Snodgrass, structural engineer; Andrew Crosby, associate; and Emeka Atansi, engineering intern. Exterior and interior views of the pavilion.