The Serpentine Pavilion is celebrating its 25th anniversary this summer with a dazzling installation by a Mexican architect

Every year the Serpentine Pavilion unveils a new design by an emerging designer. Architecture fans can stop holding their breath, because the design for 2026 has just been revealed. And it’s an extra-special design this year to celebrate the Pavilion’s 25th birthday. 

Mexican architecture studio LANZA atelier, founded by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo, has been selected to design the 2026 Serpentine Pavilion.

The duo’s design takes inspiration from an English architecture feature known as a ‘serpentine’ or ‘crinkle-crankle’ wall, which is typically a wavy wall made from brick. Its design originated in ancient Egypt and was later introduced to England by Dutch engineers. The curving wall will form one side of the pavilion, while a second wall will work around a tree canopy without disrupting it, and a translucent roof will rest lightly on brick columns evoking a grove of trees. 

The designers place particular emphasis on hands-on design methods like drawing and model-making, and have chosen brick as a nod to England for their design which they hope will create a symbolic connection between the UK and Latin America. 

LANZA atelier said: ‘Set within a garden, an evocation of the natural world, the project takes the form of a serpentine wall, conceived as a device that both reveals and withholds: shaping movement, modulating rhythm, and framing thresholds of proximity, orientation, and pause.

‘Inspired by the figure of the serpent as a generative and protective force, we draw a parallel with England’s winding fruit walls, which are structures that temper climate, create shelter, and enable growth. From this idea emerges a pavilion built of simple clay brick, foregrounding vernacular craft and the elemental capacity of architecture to bring people together. The 2026 Pavilion proposes built forms that are permeable, shaped and held by a gentle geometry, and continually responsive to those who move through it.’

The Serpentine Galleries has announced its exhibition programme for 2026 – featuring a huge David Hockney show. 

The 12 best art exhibitions coming to London in 2026. 

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