The Serpentine Pavilion 2026 is a flowing, fun, deconstructed folly – ‘just bricks with a twist’

Seen after a summer storm, the Serpentine Pavilion 2026's tactile brick body looks fresh, orange and inviting. Some of Serpentine Galleries’ past commissions in London's Kensington Gardens may have sought to convey a sense of enclosure – either as discrete structures with traditional walls and windows, or objects that discussed shelter or a meditative space. This year, the design by Mexican studio Lanza Atelier looks open, fluid – and yet smartly delineated by simple forms: a bench, a wiggly wall, a light, translucent flat-roof structure. It is clear, legible, yet somehow deconstructed – and we can't wait to step inside.

Explore the Serpentine Pavilion 2026 by Lanza Atelier

When the fast-emerging practice, founded by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo (their past works include Mexican retreat Casa Jajalpa, featured in the December 2020 edition of Wallpaper*), was announced as the Serpentine Pavilion 2026 designer in January this year, its directors spoke of a curvilinear wall snaking across the site. Their pavilion was fittingly named a serpentine and nods to the crinkle-crankle wall, an outdoor, typically brick structure found lining site borders, often enclosing a garden. The duo talked at the time about creating moments that frame 'movement and pause', 'gentle geometries' and 'permeability'. The real thing, opening its doors this week, does not disappoint.

The Lanza pair explain that the pavilion's core idea was there from the very beginning, and once they started researching their project's setting, place and history and linking it up to their own fascinations about materiality (and specifically brick, which they have often used in their past works), it all made sense and came together cohesively quite organically. Arienzo recalls: 'Initially, we tried making a patio, and a lot of things, but the crinkle-crankle wall appeared and it was perfect because it's like a serpent.'

The structure sits slightly offset from the site's centre, its curvy wall gently echoing the orientation of the path that leads from the street to the Serpentine South Gallery's entrance. It subtly divides the north and south parts of the site – true to the historical positioning of the crinkle-crankle, the architects explain, which often looks south. 'We also wanted to have something in the perimeter,' Abascal explains. 'We didn't want it right at the centre, and we put a bench on the south side of it.'

This way, they stress, the pavilion embraces the entire plot. The aim is to encourage visitors also to use the lawn between the bench and the wall and make full use of the gallery's outdoor areas. One cannot help but think that their pavilion makes a beautiful floorplan drawing, and they seem rightly proud of it too.

The pavilion has a strict budget, so architects always need to get inventive with their designs. Being smart and frugal with restrictions, materials and finances came naturally to the team, too. 'It relates to our way of building in Mexico,' Abascal says. 'You have to be very clever in what elements you need in the structure. We always try to build less. And we also try [to get the] different elements to perform more and work hard. I mean, maybe a wall carries a roof, and also divides, but what else?'

Using brick - and a focus on beautifully crafted materiality - in clever and unexpected ways naturally resonated with the duo, and they worked with blocks neatly tied together through metal fastenings and rods that go through each element's holes. It's a universal material with a strong history in the UK's built environment (and the brick they used comes from the region), but it gave them a challenge, and in turn, they gave it a twist.

Arienzo says: 'The challenge was creating a disassemblable pavilion out of brick. A brick wall is typically solid; it's opaque, it's permanent. Usually, the brick's features are almost invisible, but here we are flipping them. So it's just brick, but with a twist, you know? Meanwhile, the roof is softer, lighter.' The floor is ceramic and follows the brick walls' colouring, producing a pleasingly unified effect. The pair also used their designs for the chairs within.

Adding to the delights of having a brand-new park folly to play with, Serpentine Galleries is also celebrating its pavilion project's 25th anniversary – a landmark moment and a bonus to the popular public piece of architecture that pops up in Kensington Gardens each year. And appropriately, since it all started with a Zaha Hadid-designed pavilion in 2000, this year's iteration includes a collaboration with the Zaha Hadid Foundation. It takes the form of a dedicated programme of panel discussions and talks, set to take place inside the Lanza-designed construction throughout the summer.

Bringing together festivity and texture, the British garden and the idea of a folly, the Serpentine Pavilion 2026 will no doubt find itself comfortably at home in one of central London’s biggest green expanses – orange brick, curvy walls, and all. And don't forget, feel free to sit on the lawn.

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