Second Home and The Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County Collaborate to Present the Second Home Serpentine Pavilion by SelgasCano at La Brea Tar Pits
First Serpentine Pavilion to Travel to the U.S. Will Offer Free Public Programs from June 28 to November 24, 2019 in Celebration of the Opening of Second Home Hollywood this Summer
Los Angeles, April 24, 2019— Second Home, the London-based social business committed to supporting entrepreneurship, and creativity in cities around the world, and the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County (NHMLAC) are collaborating to bring the acclaimed 2015 Serpentine Pavilion designed by SelgasCano to Los Angeles, from June 28 to November 24, 2019.
The Second Home Serpentine Pavilion by SelgasCano at La Brea Tar Pits will offer the public a flexible, multi-purpose social space in which to enjoy public programs and events focusing on the intersection of art, design, science, and nature, co-organized by Second Home and NHMLAC. The Pavilion precedes the opening of Second Home’s first U.S. location, Second Home Hollywood, opening later this year.
The installation in Los Angeles at the iconic La Brea Tar Pits—the only active urban Ice Age excavation site in the world—will mark the first time that a Serpentine Pavilion has been presented in the United States, and Los Angeles will be its only venue.
The 866-square-foot Second Home Serpentine Pavilion by SelgasCano at La Brea Tar Pits will be set on the grassy ellipse in the park adjacent to the museum at La Brea Tar Pits. Designed by Madrid-based architects SelgasCano for the 15th annual presentation of the prestigious Serpentine Gallery program that showcases some of the boldest and most innovative designs in contemporary architecture, the Serpentine Pavilion 2015 designed by SelgasCano was originally installed and opened to the public at the Gallery’s site in London’s Hyde Park. In keeping with their reputation for playful designs and bold use of color, SelgasCano created an immersive, chrysalis-like structure covered in a translucent, multi-colored fabric membrane, allowing the public to experience architecture through shape, light, transparency, color, and materials. Visitors will be able to enter and exit the Pavilion at a number of different points, passing through a ‘secret corridor’ between the outer and inner layers of the structure and into the Pavilion’s bright stained-glass-effect interior, allowing for different and surprising journeys through the space before reaching the interior’s airy center.
Second Home and NHMLAC will partner on a diverse program of public talks, film screenings, and other events—all free and open to the public—to take place throughout the five-month installation of the Pavilion. World-class speakers and experts across a range of fields will present programs focusing on key contemporary themes, including diversity in entrepreneurship; the future of Los Angeles in terms of equity and sustainability; and the possibilities for convergence and cross-pollination in art, science, design, nature, and innovation. Collaborators include legendary BBC host and DJ Giles Peterson, who will help curate music programs; film streaming and distribution company MUBI, who will curate a series of screenings; and the Goldhirsh Foundation, who will present events tied to their LA2050 initiative. A full schedule will be announced in the coming months.
“We are pleased to be working with Second Home to bring the Pavilion to Los Angeles and toone of L.A.’s most compelling public and scientific resources, La Brea Tar Pits. The Pavilion is an opportunity to experience one of the boldest and most innovative designs in contemporary architecture,” said Dr. Lori Bettison-Varga, NHMLAC President and Director. “But it’s also a place for people to meet and be inspired by a range of activities throughout the summer. It gives a glimpse of what we can do with cultural programming at our museums, at that space where art and science intersect.”
“At Second Home, we really believe that diversity makes creativity stronger, which is why we’re so thrilled to be collaborating with Lori and the Natural History Museums to bring this beautiful structure to Los Angeles,” said Rohan Silva, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Second Home. “The Pavilion will be a space for diverse communities and ideas to come together, and we can’t wait to welcome everyone in.”
“We’ve fallen in love with Los Angeles - its beauty and chaos, its light and shadows, its contradictions, sub-cultures and people,” added Sam Aldenton, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Second Home. “The Second Home Pavilion is a celebration of this: our love letter to LA.”
Later in the year, Second Home will also be launching their first US workspace location in Los Angeles, also designed by SelgasCano, transforming the historic site of the Anne Banning Community House in East Hollywood into an innovative 90,000-square-foot urban campus.
Second Home Hollywood will be home to 250 diverse organizations and teams - surrounded by over 6,500 trees and plants, and will also feature a branch of Second Home’s acclaimed bookshop Libreria, a 200-person auditorium, post-production facilities, a restaurant, outdoor roof terraces and meeting and event spaces.
Unlike private members clubs, Second Home Hollywood’s cultural program will be entirely open to the public—helping to support learning and social inclusion. The restaurant, bookshop and event spaces will also open to all, and local charities and neighborhood groups will be able to use meeting rooms free of charge.
Visitor Information
Address
Second Home Serpentine Pavilion by SelgasCano at La Brea Tar Pits
5801 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA, 90036
Hours
6 am – 10 pm Daily
Admission
Free and open to the public
Parking
$15 flat rate
The Museum's parking lot is located at the corner of Curson Ave. and 6th St., directly behind the Museum. Enter from the western side of Curson Ave. Parking lot opens at 9:15 am and the last car can enter at 4:15 pm, when the gate locks. Visitors can leave the lot through 10:00 pm when the park closes.
The public may join a mailing list to learn more about Pavilion programs as they are announced here.
About the Second Home Serpentine Pavilion by SelgasCano at La Brea Tar Pits Design
The Second Home Serpentine Pavilion by SelgasCano at La Brea Tar Pits expresses SelgasCano’s goal of connecting design with nature. Visitors will experience the Pavilion’s architecture through simple elements: structure, light, transparency, shadows, lightness, form, sensitivity, change, surprise, color and materials. The spatial qualities of the Pavilion will unfold as each visitor enters and becomes immersed within it. Each entrance allows for a different journey through the space, characterized by color, light, and irregular shapes with surprising volumes. Programming and events for the public underscore the commitment of Second Home’s founders to making a positive difference in the community.
About the Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County
The Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County (NHMLAC) include the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park (NHM), La Brea Tar Pits, and the William S. Hart Museum. They operate under the collective vision to inspire wonder, discovery, and responsibility for our natural and cultural worlds. The museums hold one of the world’s most extensive and valuable collections of natural and cultural history—more than 35 million objects. Using these collections for groundbreaking scientific and historic research, the museums also incorporate them into nature and culture exploration in L.A. neighborhoods, and a slate of community science programs—creating a natural history museum experience that explores the past, but increasingly addresses the present and the future. Learn more here.
Follow @NHMLA on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
About La Brea Tar Pits
The asphalt seeps at La Brea Tar Pits are the only consistently active and urban Ice Age excavation site in the world. This makes the site a unique window into active science—where fossils are discovered, prepared, researched, and displayed in one place. Outside, visitors can watch excavators unearth fossils of the wildlife trapped in the seeps. Inside the museum,
scientists and volunteers clean, repair, and identify those very fossils. The best specimens are displayed and available for research: from extraordinary saber-toothed cats, giant sloths, dire wolves, mammoths, and mastodons—to microfossils of small animals and plants. These collections constitute an unparalleled resource for understanding environmental change in Los Angeles, and the planet, during the last 50,000 years of Earth’s history.
Follow @LaBreaTarPits on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook
About Second Home
Second Home is a British social business committed to supporting entrepreneurship, and creativity in cities around the world. Second Home’s first location in East London opened in 2014 and was followed by Libreria bookshop; a new school building in Nairobi; a plant-filled workspace and cultural venue in Lisbon’s oldest fruit and vegetable market, in 2016; the pneumatic structure “Second Dome”; and Second Home Holland Park in 2017. These projects were all designed by SelgasCano, with the exception of Second Dome, which was designed by emerging Spanish architecture practice DOSIS. When Second Home Hollywood opens in summer 2019, it will be the first location in the United States. Second Home also has a broad-ranging social program, including a refugee literacy training program in London and the construction and
financial support of a school in Nairobi. Learn more about Second Home Hollywood here.
Follow @SecondHome_io on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook
About SelgasCano
SelgasCano is a Madrid-based architectural practice founded in 1998 by José Selgas and Lucia Cano. The firm has built internationally acclaimed projects in Europe, the UK, Kenya, and the United States, including auditoriums, congress centers, health clinics, commercial offices, residences, public pavilions, and exhibitions. SelgasCano’s transformative work has been
recognized for its positive social impact, structurally sophisticated forms, and ingenious use of environmentally sustainable materials and bold colors.
The Principals of SelgasCano were Architects-in-Residence at MIT, and their work has been exhibited at MoMA and the Guggenheim in New York, the Venice Biennale, the Design Museum in London and the Akademie der Kunste in Berlin. After designing Second Home Spitalfields, SelgasCano was selected to design the Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion in London’s Hyde Park. Previous architects chosen include Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas and Herzog & de Meuron.