A Look at the Last 5 Editions of the Serpentine Pavilion

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Last week, the Serpentine Galleries revealed the design of the 2022 Serpentine pavilion named Black Chapel, curated for the first time by an artist, Theaster Gates. Since its launch in 2000, the Serpentine Pavilion has been providing renowned and emerging architects with a platform for design experimentation, becoming an important display of contemporary architecture. From Francis Kéré's "symbol of togetherness", to Junya Ishigami's "hill of rocks" and BIG's "unzipped wall", discover the last five editions of the Serpentine Pavilion.

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The 2021 Serpentine Pavilion by Counterspace Studio Captured by Mark Hazeldine

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Counterspace, the 20th practice to accept the invitation to design the Serpentine pavilion, has created an intervention “based on past and present places of meeting, organizing and belonging across London”. Re-interpreting the shapes of London into the structure, referencing the architecture of places of worship, markets, restaurants, bookshops, and local cultural institutions that are particularly relevant to migrant communities in neighborhoods, the project will also have fragments installed across the city.

First Look at the 2019 Serpentine Pavilion

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Junya Ishigami's design for the 2019 pavilion takes the form of a slate sheet rising from the landscape of the park, held up by pilotis that form an interior field. "My design for the Pavilion plays with our perspectives of the built environment against the backdrop of a natural landscape, emphasizing a natural and organic feel as though it had grown out of the lawn, resembling a hill made out of rocks," explained Ishigami.

Frida Escobedo's Serpentine Pavilion Photographed by Laurian Ghinitoiu

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Escobedo's design, which fuses elements typical to Mexican architecture with local London references, features a courtyard enclosed by two rectangular volumes constructed from cement roof tiles. These tiles are stacked to form a celosia, a type of wall common to Mexican architecture which is permeable, allowing ventilation and views to the other side.

Diébédo Francis Kéré's Serpentine Pavilion Photographed by Laurian Ghinitoiu

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The 2017 Serpentine Pavilion, designed by Francis Kéré was conceived as a microcosmos—"a community structure within Kensington Gardens". The pavilion has been designed to consciously fuse cultural references from Kéré's home town of Gando in Burkino Faso, with "experimental construction techniques." The architect hopes that the pavilion, as a social condenser, "will become a beacon of light, a symbol of storytelling and togetherness."

BIG's 2016 Serpentine Pavilion Opens Alongside 4 Summerhouses

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The 2016 Serpentine Pavilion, designed by BIG consists of an "unzipped wall" in which a straight line of tubular fiberglass bricks at the top of the wall is split into two undulating sides, housing the program of the pavilion. For the first time, the 2016 Serpentine Pavilion is also accompanied by four "summerhouses" designed by Kunlé Adeyemi, Barkow Leibinger, Yona Friedman and Asif Khan.