SAN JOSE — A busy developer with a global reach aims to bring to downtown San Jose a curving pavilion that has toured in London and Toronto, a temporary event center that could make the city’s urban core more lively.
The Serpentine Pavilion, a shape-shifter of an events center, is slated to become the centerpiece of a key block in downtown San Jose’s South First Area, or SoFA district, according to a proposal submitted by developer Westbank, which owns the site where the exhibition will occur.
Westbank is eyeing a number of potential uses in downtown San Jose for the Serpentine Pavilion, which was crafted by world-famous architectural and design firm Bjarke Ingels Group.
“The exhibition would provide approximately 308 individual events including but not limited to artist talks, a speaker series, courses and workshops, private events, public readings, dance, music, and theatrical performances, fashion shows, movie screenings, multi-media events, and design charrettes,” a city staff report stated.
Canada-based Westbank, a high-profile and greatly respected developer that is the patron of the unique structure, will set up the Serpentine Pavilion on a site known as the Valley Title block, which is bounded by East San Carlos Street, South First Street, East San Salvador Street, and South Second Street.
“The diverse activations that will take place in and around the Serpentine will further downtown’s recovery from the pandemic,” said Scott Knies, executive director of the San Jose Downtown Association.
The eye-catching pavilion is made up of about 1,800 fiberglass frames that are stacked and arranged to form a curving passageway that is like a cave.
“This is placemaking at the highest level and San Jose needs to have this be the standard, not the exception,” said Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use consultancy.
Staedler believes the Serpentine Pavilion offers big-time opportunities for downtown San Jose.
“Let’s not let the old standards stay the way they are, let’s push forward,” Staedler said.
The Serpentine Pavilion has become an international traveling exhibition. Its stops have included London’s Kensington Gardens and Toronto. Westbank came up with the idea of sending the pavilion on a global tour. The structure can be assembled and then taken apart to enable its tours.
City officials and Westbank executives believe the Serpentine Pavilion will be the focal point of an exhibition that can activate the SoFA district by providing free programs for the public as well as private events, San Jose planners stated.
The exhibits could also be used to provide information about the numerous and dramatic development projects being planned downtown by an alliance of Westbank and local developer Gary Dillabough’s Urban Community.
Westbank and Dillabough have proposed several major projects in downtown San Jose, including the big Valley Title site, which currently is primarily a surface parking lot and an aging office building.
The Serpentine Pavilion is slated to rise in downtown San Jose’s SoFA district starting in September of this year for a duration of six to eight months and depart around February or April of 2022.
“This is the ideal spot for the Serpentine,” Knies said. “What better way for Westbank to showcase their projects than in this ephemeral Pavilion, which becomes a destination in itself.”
San Jose city staffers believe the pavilion can make a major difference in San Jose’s downtown.
“The exhibition will help create a more complete community in the downtown area by activating a parking lot with a temporary pedestrian-oriented use providing arts and entertainment experiences,” the city staff report stated. “It will support the development of downtown as an arts, cultural, and entertainment center.”
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June 04, 2021 at 07:48PM
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Curving Serpentine Pavilion could make downtown San Jose more lively - Marin Independent Journal
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