It may feel like the heat is starting to pass but Serpentine Galleries is on the same page as we are, stretching out summer with their annual Park Nights project. A series of live art, poetry, music, film, literature, performance and raging debates, Park Nights runs across Friday evenings until mid October in the Serpentine Pavilion, a cavernous indoor-outdoor space specially designed by Chilean architect Smiljan Radić. It’s a futuristic take on ancient amphitheatre, in Hyde Park, materialising as a mammoth boulder-like dome. Serious.

Swedish retailer COS continues its partnership with Park Nights, this year extending the relationship to the foot with a specially designed brogue to mark the occasion. Here, Serpentine Gallery co-directors Hans Ulrich Obrist and Julia Peyton-Jones and COS menswear designer Martin Andersson take us behind this developing fusion of art and design. Get into some background reading then jump over to the Serpentine website to check out the program and book a night – or just rock up. Nothing beats a good dose of weekend wing-it.

Tempe Nakiska: Can you take us behind Smiljan Radić’s design for the 2014 Serpentine Pavilion?
Julia Peyton-Jones: Hans Ulrich and I have been intrigued by Smiljan Radić’s work ever since our first encounter with him at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2011. Smiljan is a key protagonist of an amazing architectural explosion in Chile.

Hans Ulrich Obrist: As shown by Smiljan’s previous projects – such as the stunning Pite House perched on the rocky coastline of his native Chile or The House for the Poem of the Right Angle, so poetically situated in woodland, or his projects that make such good use of restricted urban environments – Smiljan brilliantly adapts his style and use of material to every setting. And, he has done the same here in the cultivated environment of Kensington Gardens.

JPJ: With its combination of the natural and the fantastic, Smiljan’s design for the 14th Serpentine Pavilion owes much to the tradition of the romantic folly. The quarried stones that surround the structure lay as if remnants from a lost civilisation, blurring the lines between exterior and interior. His design blends perfectly into the setting in Kensington Gardens, itself an artfully constructed vision of Arcadia.

TN: What new experiences can people expect to discover?
HUO: For this year’s Pavilion […] all participating artists have expressed a great enthusiasm for the porousness of the structure. Air flows freely through this Pavilion. The cut-away sections allow those inside the structure a view of the Park and those outside a glimpse of what is going on inside. It will be fascinating to see how the connection between inside and outside space will be reflected in the events.

TN: There are three new artist commissions involved this year, what has been involved in getting these up and running?
HUO: This summer, Park Nights features three new artist commissions: a new performed film by Hannah Perry; artist and poet Heather Phillipson’s live audio sculpture in response to the architecture of the Pavilion and Lina Lapelyte’s exploration of choirs with low female voices. An evening of experimental sound with Haroon Mirza, Mark Fell and Okkyung Lee, in collaboration with Fiorucci Art Trust; a homage to Chilean film-maker Raúl Ruiz with actor Melvil Poupaud, producer Paulo Branco and director Valeria Sarmiento; Ed Atkins’s ancient Greek-style symposium, complete with dreaming, drinking and singing; and a talk by leading sociologist Zygmunt Bauman.

TN: What role does Park Nights play in the supporting of young and emerging artists?
HUO: Park Nights offers the Serpentine the opportunity to work with young artists on major site-specific commissions. Through these, we encourage and support the production of works that, more often than not, draw together collaborations between the artists and musicians, filmmakers, writers and other practitioners, to produce true Gesamtkunstwerk – works that live on as significant productions by the artists. It is not often that an opportunity like this is given to emerging artists in a non-exhibition context.

TN: How are the worlds of young art and fashion linked here?
JPJ: From the outset, it was apparent that COS understood us and what we do. As a brand, they are intertwined with the art world and share with us a commitment to young artists and to education. And, of course, COS is the clothing brand of choice for so many artists, designers and architects. They are a perfect match for us in so many ways.

TN:  And Martin, how do art and architecture integrate into the COS men’s collection?
Martin Andersson: For the FW14 collection we were inspired by utilitarianism and nature; combining collapsed, soft tailoring and organic textures with functional details, all in earthy tones inspired by autumnal landscapes and foliage. In the mens’ collections, printed multicolour brushstrokes on a merino wool sweater and a five-pocket jean given new life when rendered in wool are examples of our inspiration this season.  We also look to the classics, giving each piece a modern update. This is evident in the limited edition shoe we have created for the Serpentine. This year, we looked to the traditional men’s lace-up; we stripped the design back to create a minimal, timeless piece, removing cut lines and replacing them with stitch lines to create a clean look.

Park Nights runs until 19th October at the Serpentine Pavilion Kensington Gardens, London W2 3XA