Hasta La Ideas

Here are some images of the restaurant inside the Serpentine Sackler Gallery extension by London architect Zaha Hadid, which opened today in the city’s Kensington Gardens (+ slideshow).

The Magazine is a new restaurant venture, taking up residence in the new addition to the Serpentine Sackler Gallery with the interior, kitchen area, bar and structure itself all designed by Zaha Hadid.

Chef Oliver Lange’s Japanese cuisine is served beneath the undulating fabric roof, which curves down to meet the ground at three points around the periphery.

The entrance to the extension is located on one side of the adjacent 200-year-old brick building formerly used as a gunpowder store, which houses the gallery.

Tables are positioned around the sculptural columns extending down from oval skylights. Diners can enjoy views of the surrounding landscaped gardens through the glass walls that curve around the space.

The extension to the gallery officially opened in September, when we featured a full set of images by photographer Luke Hayes.

Photography is by Ed Reeve unless otherwise stated.

The Magazine

Chef Oliver Lange opens The Magazine restaurant at the new Serpentine Sackler Gallery.

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid’s first designed restaurant space in her first building in central London, will open on 1 November 2013 at the new Serpentine Sackler Gallery in Kensington Gardens operated by celebrated hospitality company K&K London Ltd. At the helm of The Magazine restaurant and bar is Berlin-born chef Oliver Lange, one of the most exciting contemporary chefs in the industry, and a past guest chef for Kofler & Kompanie’s notable Pret A Diner events in London.

The Magazine bar will be serving a small selection of light bar snacks, 10am until 7pm daily, catering for the visitors to the gallery.

The Serpentine Sackler Gallery gives new life to the Magazine, a former 1805 gunpowder store, located five minutes walk from the Serpentine Gallery on the north side of the Serpentine Bridge. With 900 square metres of new gallery, restaurant and social space, the gallery will be a new cultural destination in the heart of London and will present an unrivalled programme of exhibitions and events.

Oliver Lange was brought up in a family passionate about food and so began to cook at an early age. While studying art he realised it was cooking that was his real passion, and so he travelled to learn about the different cuisines of the world. His first great love was Japan: he dedicated his young talent to immersing himself in the tastes, techniques and textures of the Japanese kitchen. He was so successful at incorporating the precision and dedication of Japanese cooking into his own European heritage, that his masters awarded him the name Ollysan.

There is an organic flow to the newly designed structure – the continued movement stems from the membrane roof that playfully undulates and is penetrated only by columns filtering natural light into the room – while clear glass walls give the impression of dining within the surrounding garden, landscaped by Arabella Lennox-Boyd.

Ollysan’s experimental cooking, combined with Zaha Hadid’s inspirational and contemporary architecture, creates an overall distinctive and innovative dining narrative – whilst the marriage of the original building instils The Magazine restaurant’s rich and vibrant history. His vision for the food compliments the two contrasting linked buildings – where the traditional meets the modern. Ollysan brings the philosophy of Japanese cooking into his kitchen – its dedication, respect for the purity of ingredients, balancing of tastes and most importantly kokoro (heart and soul) to British and European cooking.

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Sackler Gallery extension by Zaha Hadid appeared first on Dezeen.