The
Serpentine announces the architect and educator
Marina Tabassum from Bangladesh and her company Marina Tabassum Architects (MTA) as the selected ones to design the
2025 Pavilion, titled A Capsule in Time. The space, created in the 2000s by Zaha Hadid, has served as a stage for the most significant names and emerging talents in international architecture. Over the years, the site has become a public and artistic participatory platform for Serpentine's experimental, interdisciplinary, community, and educational programs. The MTA is recognized for its
social, politically and ecologically engaged projects, which help in understanding the extent of the environmental degradation in Bangladesh – a particularly vulnerable country that, like many others, faces the impacts of climate change. Aiming to stimulate a dialogue between the permanent and ephemeral nature of the project, Tabassum will bring to the 25th year of Serpentine South a reflection of her work that seeks to establish a
contemporary architectural language while being in dialogue with the climate, context, culture, and history of the place.
Marina Tabassum (Asif Salman/Divulgação)
"When conceiving our project, we reflected on the
transitory nature of this commission, a project that seems like a capsule of memory and time. [...] The Serpentine Pavilion offers a
unique platform under the summer sun to come together as people rich in diversity," says Marina Tabassum. In the project, the professional presents the 2025 Pavilion as an elongated north-south structure with a central courtyard aligned with the bell tower of Serpentine South. Composed of four translucent wooden capsules, the space diffuses light and creates
sensory and spiritual experiences. In the center, a movable capsule can shift and connect to the point of transforming the projects. Inspired by the Shamiyana tents of South Asia, used for outdoor events, the Pavilion promotes the gathering of visitors through conversations, live programs, and public meetings. "Built around a mature tree at the center of the structure, Tabassum's design
will bring the park into the Pavilion," note Bettina Korek, CEO, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of the Pavilion.
(Marina Tabassum/Divulgação)
From June 6 to October 26, the Serpentine Pavilion 2025 will feature event programs and Park Nights, an interdisciplinary platform for live music, cinema, theater, dance, literature, philosophy, fashion, and technology. The temporary projects each year invite the public to experience the activated space. Marina Tabassum's Pavilion will be unveiled with Goldman Sachs, which has been a supporter for 11 consecutive years.
