Marking World Play Day, June 11, the Play Pavilion, designed by British architect Peter Cook in collaboration with the LEGO Group, has just opened. The Pavilion is located next to Serpentine South in Kensington Gardens, London. Developed with Pablo Wheldon and Cong Ding, the Pavilion is a collaboration between Serpentine, the LEGO Group, The Royal Parks, and CONSUL. The project builds on Serpentine's broader efforts to connect architecture, design, and public engagement through temporary installations in the park.
The V&A East Storehouse will open to the public for the first time on Saturday, 31 May 2025. Located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the project is part of East Bank, a new cultural quarter supported by the Mayor of London. Designed by the internationally recognized architecture firm Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, the new facility serves as both a working store and a visitor destination. Following a decade of planning and extensive audience consultation, V&A East Storehouse is the first of V&A East's two new cultural destinations to open in East London. The second, V&A East Museum, is scheduled to open in spring 2026 and will explore the role of making and creativity as agents of change.
Bangladeshi architect and educator Marina Tabassum and her firm, Marina Tabassum Architects, have been selected to design the 2025 SerpentinePavilion. Titled "A Capsule in Time," the proposal takes inspiration from the ephemeral nature of architecture in the Bengal Delta, incorporating a semi-transparent structure intended to evoke a sense of community and connection. The Pavilion will open to the public on June 6th, until 26 October 2025, with a press preview two days before the opening. Tabassum's pavilion will mark the 25th year since the Serpentine's first commission of Zaha Hadid's inaugural structure in Hyde Park in 2000.
Clockwise from top left: Foster + Partners with Yinka Shonibare and Michel Desvigne Paysagiste; WilkinsonEyre with Lisa Vandy and Fiona Clark, Andy Sturgeon Design, Atelier One and Hilson Moran; J&L Gibbons with Michael Levine RDI, William Matthews Associa tes, Structure Workshop and Arup; Heatherwick Studio with Halima Cassell, MRG Studio, Webb Yates and Arup; Tom Stuart - Smith with Jamie Fobert Architects, Adam Lowe (Factum Arte) and Structure Workshop. Image Courtesy of the teams and Malcolm Reading Consultants
The UK Government has revealed five shortlisted design concepts for the Queen Elizabeth II Memorial, set to be located in the historically significant landscape of St James's Park in London. The proposals, now accessible through a newly launched online gallery, mark a key stage in the development of a national tribute to the late monarch. Public feedback on the exhibited proposals will be gathered until 19 May 2025 and will inform the Committee's decision on the winning design team, expected to be announced in early summer 2025. The final design is anticipated to be unveiled in 2026, coinciding with the centenary of Queen Elizabeth II's birth.
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According to several recent studies, noise in cities has become an increasing hazard to health. Environmental noise, that is, noise from traffic, industrial activities, or amplified music, which reaches internal spaces, is not merely an annoyance. It has been linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, and mental health. As the world urbanizes, more people are exposed to excessive levels of noise. How can urban design and architectural strategies help to prevent this?
In recent weeks, a series of notable architectural projects have been announced, reflecting a broad spectrum of design approaches aimed at enhancing urban life, infrastructure, and environmental sustainability. From cultural venues to large-scale masterplans and infrastructural advancements, these developments highlight how architecture continues to shape cities and communities. Among them, Knight Architects' Kruunusillat Bridge in Helsinki marks a milestone as Finland's tallest and longest bridge, designed to support sustainable mobility. Meanwhile, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield's masterplan for Croydon sets out a vision for a vibrant mixed-use district, integrating historic preservation with contemporary urban renewal. At Kew Gardens, Mizzi Studio's Carbon Garden introduces a new permanent installation that explores carbon cycles through landscape design. This collection of recent announcements underscores the evolving priorities in architecture, from connectivity and urban regeneration to climate-conscious interventions.
The creative fusion of art and activism in urban spaces has propelled the British collective Led by Donkeys into the spotlight, garnering millions of views for their interventions on social media. Their critical visual occupations - whether billboard messages during the day or large-scale projections at night - raise a compelling question: which medium holds the greater persuasive power? The book "Led by Donkeys: Adventures in Art, Activism and Accountability" offers a deep dive into their conceptual approach, charting their rapid evolution over six years. What began as a London-based response to Brexit has expanded into a global critique of political hypocrisy, addressing issues in Europe, the Middle East, and America. For Peter Weibel, former director of the ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany, the innovative fusion of activism and art—or "Artivism"—represents the first new art form of the 21st century. Years of experience in environmental activism provided the group with crucial insights into the mechanics of political communication, the organization of public interventions, and the challenges of achieving meaningful societal change.
The United Kingdom Government has announced the shortlisted design teams for the national memorial dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II, following the first stage of a two-stage open competition that attracted creative talent from the UK and beyond. The five teams moving forward in the competition are Foster + Partners with Yinka Shonibare and Michel Desvigne Paysagiste; Heatherwick Studio with Halima Cassell, MRG Studio,Webb Yates, and Arup; J&L Gibbons with Michael Levine RDI, William Matthews Associates, Structure Workshop, and Arup; Tom Stuart-Smith with Jamie Fobert Architects, Adam Lowe (Factum Arte), and Structure Workshop; and WilkinsonEyre with Lisa Vandy, Fiona Clark, Andy Sturgeon Design, Atelier One, and Hilson Moran.
