Serpentine Pavilion 2026 architects announced – and they put the 'serpent' in the 'Serpentine'

The architect for the Serpentine Pavilion 2026 has just been announced – Mexico City studio LANZA Atelier, founded by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo, has been chosen to design the newest iteration of one of London's most highly anticipated annual commissions.

Serpentine Pavilion 2026 – a landmark edition

The pavilion – a staple of London summertime – celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, making 2026 a landmark one for the Serpentine Gallery and its efforts in architecture. It all started with a structure by Zaha Hadid in 2000, and to mark the occasion, the 2026 Serpentine Pavilion will also feature a collaboration with the Zaha Hadid Foundation, taking the form of a dedicated programme of panel discussions and talks to take place inside the LANZA-designed construction.

'As we mark the 25th Pavilion, we reflect on these origins,' says Hans Ulrich Obrist, artistic director at the Serpentine. 'Since its inception in 2000, the Pavilion has acted as a catalyst for architects at pivotal moments in their careers. LANZA atelier’s Pavilion will mark the second time Mexican architects are appointed since Frida Escobedo in 2018. We are grateful to LANZA atelier for embracing this invitation, and we extend our sincere thanks to Sou Fujimoto for his generous guidance.'

Who is LANZA atelier?

The relatively young studio was founded in 2015 in Mexico City by partners Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo. The directors' experimentation with materiality and deep, contextual design work has resulted in acclaimed works, such as a house located about 40 minutes outside Mexico City, featured in the December 2020 edition of Wallpaper*. Various awards nominations and inclusions in emerging architects' lists across the world have cemented the dynamic practice's position on the global map - yet they have not had the chance to build in the UK capital.

This is where the Serpentine commission comes in – an annual award to a studio that has not had permanent, built work in London before. The studio said: 'It is an honour to be selected as the architects of the 25th Serpentine Pavilion, a milestone year for the commission. We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to share our work with a wider public and to contribute to the Pavilion’s ongoing legacy of spatial experimentation and collective encounter.'

The 2026 Serpentine Pavilion design

The 2026 pavilion is titled a serpentine, nodding to the gallery as well as the English crinkle-crankle wall, an outdoor, typically brick wall which tends to snake along site borders, enclosing, often, a garden. This feature forms one side of the pavilion, which is placed in dialogue with its green surroundings in Kensington Gardens and a stone's throw from the Serpentine lake. Its distinctive brick materiality also ties it to the notion of the English garden.

The LANZA directors explain: '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.'

Sponsored by Goldman Sachs, the Serpentine Pavilion 2026 by LANZA atelier will be on show at Serpentine South 6 June – 26 October 2026