London’s Serpentine Galleries has announced Mexico City-based Lanza Studio as the designer of the 2026 Serpentine Pavilion, marking the 25th anniversary of the annual commission. Founded by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo in 2015, the studio will unveil the pavilion titled “a serpentine” on June 6, 2026, at the Serpentine South Gallery. As part of the milestone celebrations, the Galleries will collaborate with the Zaha Hadid Foundation to honor Hadid’s role as the architect of the inaugural 2000 pavilion and reinforce the project’s legacy as a platform for architectural experimentation.
About Lanza Studio
Lanza Studio operates across architecture, craft, and spatial experimentation, with its work rooted in everyday contexts and informal practices. The studio focuses on material intelligence, construction methods, and collective experiences, undertaking projects spanning residential, public, and furniture scales. It employs hand drawing and model-making as active design tools, blending traditional techniques with innovative approaches to space and form.
The studio has earned international recognition, including the Emerging Voices Award from the Architectural League of New York in 2023 and the Young Architects Award in 2017. Its works have been exhibited globally at venues such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), the São Paulo Architecture Biennale, the Lisbon Triennale, and the Latin American Architecture Biennale. Upcoming projects include a solo furniture design exhibition in Mexico City and the design of the Republic of Kosovo’s pavilion at the 61st Venice Art Biennale, curated by José Esparza Chong Cuy.
Pavilion Design Concept & Materials
At the core of Lanza Studio’s design is a winding, pleated wall, drawing inspiration from British garden traditions and historical construction techniques. The concept references the crankle wall—a one-brick-wide structure stabilized by alternating curves, originally developed to enhance material efficiency and lateral strength. This geometric form also echoes the nearby Serpentine Lake, establishing a conceptual and spatial dialogue with the site.
The pavilion comprises a series of gently curved brick walls that shape movement and rhythm, alternating between revealing and enclosing spaces while framing moments of intimacy, pause, and orientation within the garden setting. Brick was selected as the primary material to maintain continuity with the Serpentine South Gallery’s historic brick facade and strengthen the pavilion’s connection to its surroundings.
The structure features a rhythmic sequence of brick columns transitioning from solid to permeable, allowing light and air to flow through. A translucent roof rests lightly atop these columns, creating a spatial quality reminiscent of a grove of trees. Situated on the northern side of the site, the pavilion responds to the surrounding landscape, interacting with existing tree canopies and softening the boundary between enclosure and openness.
“Inspired by the serpent—an image of generative and protective power—we draw parallels to England’s winding fruit walls, structures that regulate climate, provide shelter, and foster growth,” Lanza Studio explained. “This gives rise to a pavilion built from simple clay bricks, highlighting local craftsmanship and architecture’s primal ability to bring people together. The 2026 pavilion proposes an open architectural form, shaped and supported by soft geometries, that continuously responds to those who move through it.”
Selection & Commemorative Publications
The pavilion selection was overseen by a committee including Bettina Korek, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Julie Burnell, Chris Bayley, Tamsin Hong, and Liz Stumpf, with Sou Fujimoto serving as a consultant. To accompany the pavilion’s opening, the Serpentine Galleries will publish Lanza Studio’s first monograph, designed by Estudio Herrera. The book will feature new works from the fields of architecture, art, and poetry, a in-depth conversation between the architects and Hans Ulrich Obrist, and an essay by José Esparza Chong Cuy.
As the 25th iteration of the Serpentine Pavilion, the project builds on two and a half decades of architectural innovation, continuing the Galleries’ mission to showcase experimental design that engages with contemporary issues and connects people with art, architecture, and nature.
