Spanish Firm SelgasCano Will Design the 15th Serpentine Pavilion

José Selgas and Lucía Cano Image courtesy of SelgasCano

For the time ever, London’s acclaimed Serpentine Pavilion will be designed by a Spanish team.

The Madrid-based practice SelgasCano will walk in the footsteps of Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, and Zaha Hadid and create a temporary structure in London’s Kensington Gardens, slated to open next summer.

Conceived by the Serpentine Galleries’ co-director Julia Peyton-Jones, the Serpentine Pavilion is one of the most eagerly-anticipated architectural commissions in the world. Every year, it gives an architect the opportunity to realize his or her first ever new structure in the UK.

Launched by José Selgas and Lucía Cano in 1988, SelgasCano is best-known in Spain, where the firm has completed most of its major projects.

The studio is currently working on a number of projects internationally, including Pip House (Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles), the renovation of Texas Square in Oranjestad (Aruba, Lesser Antilles) and La Canaria House (Mount Washington, Los Angeles).

In a statement released by the Serpentine Galleries, the pair explained they that were inspired by London and the idea of the garden, and that they would “use only one material as a canvas for both: the Transparency.”

“That ‘material’ has to be explored in all its structural possibilities, avoiding any other secondary material that supports it, and the most advanced technologies will be needed to be employed to accomplish that transparency,” they said. “A good definition for the pavilion can be taken from J. M. Barrie: it aims to be as a ‘Betwixt-and-Between’.”

No more information is available at this stage, but the full plans will be revealed next February.


Follow Artnet News on Facebook:


Want to stay ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the breaking news, eye-opening interviews, and incisive critical takes that drive the conversation forward.
Article topics