The 2025 Serpentine Pavilion has just opened to the public. Designed by Bangladeshi architect and educator Marina Tabassum and her firm, Marina Tabassum Architects, the pavilion marks the 25th year since the Serpentine's first commission of Zaha Hadid's inaugural structure in Hyde Park in 2000. Titled "A Capsule in Time," the design takes inspiration from the ephemeral, adaptive architecture of the Bengal Delta, featuring a semi-transparent structure that aims to foster a sense of community and collective experience. The pavilion will be open to the public in London's Kensington Gardens from June 6th to October 26th, 2025.
Supported by Goldman Sachs for the 11th consecutive year, the 2025 Pavilion continues the legacy of experimental architecture first set in motion by Zaha Hadid. Her mantra, "There should be no end to experimentation," acts as a conceptual foundation for the commission, and Tabassum's design carries this forward through a sensory approach to space-making. Known for her contextually rooted practice, Marina Tabassum has developed an architectural language that engages with climate, place, and history. Her design for the 2025 Serpentine Pavilion invites visitors into a contemplative space that explores the relationship between permanence and ephemerality. The structure is arranged along a north-south axis, aligning with the bell tower of Serpentine South. Four wooden capsule-like forms, featuring translucent façades, create a sculptural canopy that filters daylight into a shifting interior.
This also marks Tabassum's first structure built entirely of wood. Light plays a central role in shaping the pavilion's spatial qualities, enhancing the interplay between scale, geometry, and shadow. One of the capsule forms is kinetic, capable of movement, allowing the pavilion to be reconfigured, encouraging both physical transformation and symbolic openness. At its center, the Pavilion embraces nature, it is built around a semi-mature Ginkgo tree, a resilient species selected for its climate adaptability and contribution to biodiversity in Kensington Gardens. Over the course of the exhibition, its leaves will transition from green to vibrant gold, echoing the seasonal shifts that frame the structure's temporary life. After October, the tree will be replanted, reinforcing the project's commitment to sustainability and continuity.
Related Article
A Look at the Last 8 Editions of the Serpentine Pavilion
Tabassum also envisions the Pavilion as a space for gathering and shared knowledge. In response to global trends of censorship and fragmentation, the architect has embedded shelves within the structure that hold books on Bengali culture, literature, ecology, and poetry. This curated library hints at the Pavilion's potential afterlife as a community-oriented structure that could live on as a mobile library or learning space, extending its purpose beyond its initial site and time.
Launched in 2000, the Serpentine Pavilion provides a platform for both established and emerging architects to explore experimental ideas and highlight significant themes within the field of architecture. The last 8 editions of the pavilions include: "Archipelagic Void" by Minsuk Cho, "À table" by Lina Ghotmeh, "Black Chapel" by Theaster Gates, "Counterspace" by Sumayya Vally, 2019's pavilion by Junya Ishigami, 2018's pavilion by Frida Escobedo, 2017's pavilion by Francis Kéré, and 2016's pavilion by Bjarke Ingels Group.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on June 3, 2025, and updated on June 6, 2025, after the official opening.
