The Serpentine Pavilion is an annual commission that we have delivered since 2009. This is a landmark event in the architectural calendar, and its reveal is much anticipated. This year’s Pavilion, entitled ‘a serpentine’ was designed by Mexico City-based studio LANZA atelier.
LANZA atelier chose brick as the primary material to express the distinctly English garden tradition and establish a conversation with the existing brick façade of the Serpentine South Gallery, which was originally built as a tea pavilion. The Pavilion is constructed from a rhythmic repetition of brick columns that transform the wall from opaque to permeable.
The Pavilion made heavy reference to the Crinkle Crankle walls of Suffolk that were designed to use a single skin of material, relying on a continuously sinuous form for stiffness. This geometry offered a playful nod to serpents, and of course its location at the Serpentine in London.
The aim of Serpentine’s Pavilion commission is to choose architects who consistently extend the boundaries of contemporary architectural practice and to introduce these practitioners to wider audiences. We value the way in which the commission brings the notion of experimental architecture to a broad public audience, and perhaps most importantly, remains free for all to visit.
