LONDON.- The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2008, which gives England the first built project by legendary architect Frank Gehry, opens on 20 July (until 19 October). The spectacular structure – designed and engineered in collaboration with Arup – is anchored by four massive steel columns and is comprised of large timber planks and a complex network of overlapping glass planes that create a dramatic, multi-dimensional space. Gehry and his team took inspiration for this year’s Pavilion from a fascinating variety of sources including the elaborate wooden catapults designed by Leonardo da Vinci as well as the striped walls of summer beach huts. Part-amphitheatre, part-promenade, these seemingly random elements make a transformative place for reflection and relaxation by day, and discussion and performance by night.

Rarely do things come up which make you say I have seen that before. How many times have we seen a modernist design sprout on our character streets? We will maintain the context by putting a store on the ground floor. After that, a perch for one. Gone are the tight apartments you see to the left and right. What then happens to the people who crowd the streets during the day and night? Density? forget it. In this case the house design is fine but what does it really do to the street and neighbourhood it soo longs to be in? We really need to investigate density in our neighbourhoods and look at cities like Montreal to see how we maintain our character streets through design. Funny thing is the article in today's globe and mail calls it "luxurious digs in a blue collar context" sort of like a foreman's office in a factory.