London garden opens pavilion from star Madrid architects

A new pavilion, designed by Madrid-based architecture atelier selgascano, is now based at Highgate's OmVed gardens.

Selgascano is known for its 2015 Serpentine Pavilion, as well as work on the new Design district at Greenwich Peninsula. The pavilion appeared this year at the Chelsea Flower Show in OmVed's 'Saving Seed' garden which won a silver medal. It will now be a space for reflection, inspiration and education by the pond at OmVed Gardens.

To mark the pavilion's arrival, the garden will be opening under the Open House Festival for the weekend of the 16, 17 and 18 September.

OmVed Gardens is an exhibition space and food project in North London. Formally a tarmacked wasteland, since 2017 the urban greenscape has been transformed into a diverse habitat that now contains a wildflower meadow, orchard and vegetable garden.

At the Chelsea Flower Show in 2022, OmVed Gardens took home a silver medal for their exhibit 'Saving Seed' which highlighted the regenerative and community aspect of growing food and saving seed and its impact on humans and the planet. This exhibit has now been reopened at the OmVed site in Highgate and will be open until 23 October. Part of the 'Saving Seed' exhibit, the pavilion, designed by Madrid-based architecture atelier selgascano, will become a space for education and reflection in the gardens.

The pavilion was designed to reflect and melt into the OmVed Gardens landscape. It features a transparent rooftop and a sinuous series of rotating walls that can be set to different positions.

As part of Open House Festival 2022, the pavilion will be open to the public and play host to a small programme of events this September. On the 16 September, visitors can listen to selgascano, the designers of the pavilion, in conversation with landscape architect Paul Gazerwitz, who designed the OmVed Gardens landscape. On the 18, visitors can take part in an 'Urban Sketching Jam' and take their time to feel inspired and draw the landscape and shapes in the gardens.

Useful information

Register for selgascano talk or the sketching session now.