MARKING 25 YEARS, THE 2025 SERPENTINE PAVILION A CAPSULE IN TIME DESIGNED BY MARINA TABASSUM
Built around a semi-mature Ginkgo tree, the Pavilion becomes a stage for Serpentine’s dynamic programme across the summer and until October
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Image: Serpentine Pavilion 2025 A Capsule in Time, designed by Marina Tabassum, Marina Tabassum Architects (MTA). © Marina Tabassum Architects (MTA). Photo: Iwan Baan. Courtesy Serpentine.
Serpentine South
6 June – 26 October 2025
Serpentine is delighted to open the Serpentine Pavilion 2025, A Capsule in Time, designed by Bangladeshi architect and educator Marina Tabassum and her firm, Marina Tabassum Architects (MTA) on Friday 6 June 2024, with Goldman Sachs supporting the annual project for the 11th consecutive year.
Tabassum’s Pavilion marks the 25th year of this pioneering commission and continues Dame Zaha Hadid’s ethos of pushing the boundaries of architecture. Her mantra “There should be no end to experimentation”, is the foundation in which this commission is built upon and Tabassum’s Pavilion exemplifies this.
Celebrated for her work that seeks to establish an architectural language that is contemporary while rooted and engaging with place, climate, context, culture and history, Tabassum’s design resonates with Serpentine South and aims to prompt a dialogue between the permanent and the ephemeral nature of the commission.
The 2025 Pavilion is elongated in the north-south direction and features a central court that aligns with Serpentine South’s bell tower. Inspired by the tradition of park-going and arched garden canopies that filter soft daylight through green foliage, the sculptural quality of the Pavilion is comprised of four wooden capsule forms with a translucent façade that diffuses and dapples light when infiltrating the space. Marking the first structure by Tabassum to be built entirely from wood, it also employs light as a way to enhance the qualities of the space. Emphasising the sensory and spiritual possibilities of architecture through scale, geometry and the interplay of light and shadow, Tabassum’s design also features a kinetic element where one of the capsule forms is able to move and connect, transforming the Pavilion into a new spatial configuration.
Built around a semi-mature Ginkgo tree – a climate resilient tree species that dates back to the early Jurassic Period – Tabassum’s Pavilion, like much of Tabassum’s previous projects, considers the threshold between inside and outside, the tactility of material, lightness and darkness, height and volume. Throughout the course of summer and into autumn, the Gingko tree leaves will slowly shift from green to luminous gold-yellow. The selection of a Gingko, was inspired by the fact this species is showing tolerance to climate change and contributes to a diverse treescape in Kensington Gardens. The species is not susceptible to many current pest and diseases, and will be replanted into the park following the Pavilion’s closure in October.
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