The Serpentine Gallery in London has come under fire after it was claimed that its chosen architect for this year’s pavilion, Junya Ishigami + Associates, uses unpaid interns who are expected to work 12-hour shifts for months.

The acclaimed 44-year-old Japanese architect was picked by the Serpentine to design its 19th annual pavilion project, which offers international architects the chance to build their first structure in the UK. But according to the Architects’ Journal, the firm’s Tokyo Office makes use of interns in a manner that would be deemed highly controversial in the UK.

In response to a student seeking a placement, an email reportedly seen by the Architects’ Journal outlines several conditions of an internship, including no pay, a six-day working week and office hours that run from 11am until midnight. The placements were described as lasting between two and three months (“or more”), with interns required to bring their own computer equipment and software.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A sketch of the interior of Junya Ishigami’s 2019 Serpentine summer pavilion. Photograph: Junya Ishigami + Associates

The student who was said to have received the email told the Architects’ Journal: “I considered [the internship] for a second, but then later I just realised how ridiculous the terms are. I can’t afford to do that, considering that Tokyo is not at all a cheap place to live.”

The Serpentine Gallery told the Guardian that it was unaware of the alleged internships and had taken it up with Junya Ishigami + Associates. A spokeswoman said: “The Serpentine only supports paid positions on all of its projects and commissions.”

Junya Ishigami + Associates has yet to respond to the Guardian’s request for comment at the time of publication.

Junya Ishigami to design 2019 Serpentine pavilion Read more

Such internships are not as controversial in Japan as they are in the UK. In 2013, the Serpentine pavilion designer Sou Fujimoto described the use of unpaid interns in Japan as a “nice opportunity”. In 2011, the Royal Institute of British Architects changed its rules to force chartered practices to pay at least the minimum wage for all student placements.

Plans for Ishigami’s pavilion involve creating a smog-like sky of rocks suspended on slender columns. ‘‘My design for the pavilion plays with our perspectives of the built environment against the backdrop of a natural landscape,” said Ishigami. “Possessing the weighty presence of slate roofs seen around the world, and simultaneously appearing so light it could blow away in the breeze, the cluster of scattered rock levitates, like a billowing piece of fabric.”



