The opening of the Serpentine Summer Pavilion has become a marker of the start of ‘summer’ in London (although, when we visited, it was a typically British, wet and miserable morning in Kensington Gardens). This year’s commission (the 25th) was awarded to Mexico City-based architecture practice Lanza Atelier, founded by the fabulously glamorous Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienz.
Entitled ‘a serpentine’, the pavilion aesthetically grounds itself in close dialogue with both the brick façade of the adjacent Serpentine South Gallery, and the gentle curves of the Serpentine river it takes its name from. Remarkably, this is the first Serpentine pavilion built entirely in bricks, 30,000 of them, handmade in South London in a gorgeous earthy orange shade; its crinkle-crankle, curvilinear walls offer a slender and topographic anchor point: the structure is its architecture. Through the use of the curve as a structural device, the walls can be built in a much thinner fashion, which wouldn’t be possible if the walls were straight.
The Serpentine Summer Pavilion, which is sponsored by Goldman Sachs for the 12th year running, has become an important platform in the UK for showcasing work by emerging voices – and typically, it is awarded to architecture practices that haven’t built in the UK.
Over the years, the Serpentine Pavilion has evolved, from a showcase of outstanding ‘stararchitects’, into a much-anticipated and influential showcase for emerging talents. From Zaha Hadid, in 2000, to Daniel Libeskind, Toyo Ito, Oscar Niemeyer, Alvaro Siza, Rem Koolhaas, Olafur Eliasson, Frank Gehry, SANAA, Jean Nouvel, Peter Zumthor, Herzog & de Meuron, Sou Fujimoto, Smiljan Radic, Bjarke Ingels, Diebedo Francis Kere, Frida Escobedo, Jumya Ishigai, Sumayya Vally, Theaster Gates, Lina Ghotmeh, Mass Studies, and Marina Tabassum, in 2025; Lanza Atelier continues this important heritage.
In opening the pavilion, Hans Ulrich Obrist mentioned how Lanza Atelier highlighted in their project the importance of connectedness, of shared collective encounter, which is very much at the core of the Serpentine’s ethos for its Summer Pavilions.
Isabel Abascal, from Lanza Atelier, also commented:
‘We believe that bricks subvert the individual in favour of the collective; the pavilion is an invitation to explore and celebrate the park, and come together in a sense of the collective.’
The earthy tones, slender columns, and geometric brick patterns, which are found on the floor through to the walls, give the structure a neatly elegant, uncluttered, and yet warm, spacious and calming feel, resembling of the criss-cross of traditional British building, and continuing in the tradition of garden houses – a fitting nod to the history of the Serpentine Gallery South, which used to be a tea house.
The architects pointed out that a wall, while generally considered as a divisive element, can also function as a gathering point, and invited the visitors to utilise the furniture – also designed by Lanza Atelier – in a moveable, flexible formation that can be used to suit multiple configurations. Constructed from sapele hardwood, the chairs and stools are made locally; local are also the bricks, hand made in South London; a particularly lovely detail is shown in the dents left on some of the bricks as they are extracted from the furnace, a trace of the hands that made them. There is flexibility and porosity embedded in this pavilion, and a sense of locality, and quiet assertiveness.
The pavilion’s airy permeability, simplicity and honesty of materials successfully evoke a sense of peaceful grounding and an invitation to linger.
It’s a joyful and serene space to inhabit and one that will be much cherished over this summer.
The public programme of events continues until 25 October. The programme, curated to respond to the specificity of the building, includes dance, music, film, theatre, literature, philosophy, fashion and technology; this year, it also features a collaboration with Zaha Hadid Foundation (on the 10th anniversary of Zaha Hadid’s passing) and the Architectural Association.
Serpentine Pavilion 2026 by LANZA atelier, 6th June – 25th October 2026, Serpentine Pavilion, free
‘a serpentine’ by LANZA atelier, founded by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo
