Serpentine Pavilion 2026 by LANZA atelier
'a serpentine' by LANZA atelier, founded by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro ArienzoLANZA atelier emphasises the role of design in everyday interactions and identifies the pursuit of beauty as a recurring theme in their work. The Mexico City-based architecture studio founded by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo, has anchored the 2026 Serpentine Pavilion on the English architectural feature known as a serpentine, or crinkle-crankle, wall. The wall derives its stability from its curving form, requiring fewer bricks than a straight wall. The name of the Pavilion, a serpentine, is inspired by this feature, which makes up the Pavilion’s south wall and subtly references the nearby Serpentine Lake, whose gentle curve evokes the form of a serpent.
The north wall of the structure is in dialogue with the surrounding landscape, curving around the nearby tree canopy. A translucent roof allows light and air to permeate the space, softening the boundary between enclosure and openness. The roof rests lightly on brick columns which evoke a grove of trees.
LANZA atelier chose brick as the primary material to celebrate the distinctly English garden tradition and establish a conversation with the existing brick façade of the Serpentine South Gallery, which was originally built as a tea pavilion. The Pavilion is constructed from a rhythmic repetition of brick columns that transform the wall from opaque to permeable.
Architects' Biography
Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo founded LANZA atelier in 2015 in Mexico City with the purpose of making meaningful contributions to the beauty of the world. Since then, they have been nominated for the 2016 Ibero-American Architecture Biennial Award and the Mies Crown Hall Award for Emerging Architects, IIT Chicago in 2016 and 2022, and for the Brick Award 2021. The studio is one of the winners of the Young Architects Prize 2017 and the Emerging Voices Award 2023 from the Architectural League of New York which described their multimodal work as one that “expresses an inventiveness, a sensitivity to context, and a compositional refinement that spans scales and forms.” Following LANZA atelier’s first solo show, New Work at SFMOMA in 2018, the atelier’s work has been exhibited at the 12th São Paulo Architecture Biennale (2019), the Lisbon Triennale (2019), the Concéntrico Festival in Spain (2021), and the Latin American Architecture Biennial (BAL) 2023. Additionally, they have presented their work at Syracuse University (2025), Yale University (2024), CU Denver (2024), UTSA (2023), Cal Poly Pomona as part of the VDL House Residency Program (2022), the Constructing Practice Symposium at Columbia University (2019), among others. LANZA atelier’s 2026 projects include a solo exhibition of their furniture designs at AGO Projects in Mexico City as well as the design of the 61st Venice Art Biennale’s Pavilion of the Republic of Kosovo, curated by José Esparza Chong Cuy and presenting a new commission by Brilant Milazimi titled Hard Teeth (Dhëmbë të Fortë).
Isabel Abascal studied architecture at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Technische Universität Berlin and at Vastu Shilpa Foundation in Ahmedabad by B. V. Doshi. She was a design studio professor for six years at Escola da Cidade in São Paulo, Brazil. From 2015 to 2017, she was Executive Director of the LIGA platform in Mexico City and co-edited the book Exposed Architecture published by Park Books. Her proposal Mother Architecture: Shaping Birth is a Harvard GSD 2023 Wheelwright Prize Finalist and her project Investigaciones sobre creación y procreación has been awarded the National Fund for the Arts Prize 2023.
Alessandro Arienzo studied architecture at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. He explores the different possibilities within architectural practice by developing hand-drawing and publishing projects such as the Housetypes book series. In 2017, he was a recipient of the National Fund for the Arts Young Creators Prize. With this grant, he developed an investigation on the Security and Citizen Participation Modules network. The resulting work became part of SFMOMA’s permanent collection in 2018. Several of his designs have been showcased institutionally, including A family of 4, which is part of the Denver Art Museum collection.
This year’s Pavilion selection was made by Serpentine CEO Bettina Korek; Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist; Director of Construction and Special Projects Julie Burnell; Curator, Exhibitions Chris Bayley; Curator, Exhibitions Tamsin Hong; and Assistant Curator, Exhibitions Liz Stumpf, together with advisor Sou Fujimoto.
Tamsin Hong, Curator, Exhibitions and Liz Stumpf, Assistant Curator, Exhibitions
