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Counterspace's Serpentine Pavilion will be both one and many places for gathering
POSTED 13 Feb 2020 . BY Stu Robarts
The pavilion has been conceived as a place for debate and new ideas Credit: Counterspace

The pavilion is itself conceived as an event – the coming together of a variety of forms from across London over the course of the pavilion's sojourn.
– Sumayya Vally
Counterspace have been chosen to design the Serpentine Pavilion for 2020 with a design based on gathering spaces and community places around London that will be accompanied by a public programme across the city.

Now in its 20th year, the annual pavilion commission is described by the Serpentine as "a global platform for experimental projects by some of the world's greatest architects."

This year's architects from the Johannesburg-based practice – Sumayya Vally, Sarah de Villiers and Amina Kaskar – are the youngest ever to have won the commission.

They have conceived their pavilion as a place for debate and new ideas and create other such places around the city by using movable parts of the pavilion to run community events around the city.

The pavilion will be constructed using sustainable materials including Kenoteq's K-Briq modules, which are produced from 90 per cent recycled construction waste, and cork.

Lead architect Sumayya Vally said: The pavilion is itself conceived as an event – the coming together of a variety of forms from across London over the course of the pavilion's sojourn. These forms are imprints of some of the places, spaces and artefacts which have made care and sustenance part of London's identity.

"The breaks, gradients and distinctions in colour and texture between different parts of the pavilion make this reconstruction and piecing together legible at a glance. As an object, experience through movement, it has continuity and consistency, but different and variation are embedded into the essential gesture at every turn.

"Places of memory and care in Brixton, Hoxton, Hackney, Whitechapel, Edgware Road, Peckham, Ealing, North Kensington and beyond are transferred onto the Serpentine lawn. Where they intersect, they produce spaces together."
It will be constructed using sustainable materials including K-Briq modules and cork Credit: Counterspace
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Uniting the world of spa & wellness
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NEWS
Counterspace's Serpentine Pavilion will be both one and many places for gathering
POSTED 13 Feb 2020 . BY Stu Robarts
The pavilion has been conceived as a place for debate and new ideas Credit: Counterspace
The pavilion is itself conceived as an event – the coming together of a variety of forms from across London over the course of the pavilion's sojourn.
– Sumayya Vally
Counterspace have been chosen to design the Serpentine Pavilion for 2020 with a design based on gathering spaces and community places around London that will be accompanied by a public programme across the city.

Now in its 20th year, the annual pavilion commission is described by the Serpentine as "a global platform for experimental projects by some of the world's greatest architects."

This year's architects from the Johannesburg-based practice – Sumayya Vally, Sarah de Villiers and Amina Kaskar – are the youngest ever to have won the commission.

They have conceived their pavilion as a place for debate and new ideas and create other such places around the city by using movable parts of the pavilion to run community events around the city.

The pavilion will be constructed using sustainable materials including Kenoteq's K-Briq modules, which are produced from 90 per cent recycled construction waste, and cork.

Lead architect Sumayya Vally said: The pavilion is itself conceived as an event – the coming together of a variety of forms from across London over the course of the pavilion's sojourn. These forms are imprints of some of the places, spaces and artefacts which have made care and sustenance part of London's identity.

"The breaks, gradients and distinctions in colour and texture between different parts of the pavilion make this reconstruction and piecing together legible at a glance. As an object, experience through movement, it has continuity and consistency, but different and variation are embedded into the essential gesture at every turn.

"Places of memory and care in Brixton, Hoxton, Hackney, Whitechapel, Edgware Road, Peckham, Ealing, North Kensington and beyond are transferred onto the Serpentine lawn. Where they intersect, they produce spaces together."
It will be constructed using sustainable materials including K-Briq modules and cork Credit: Counterspace
RELATED STORIES
Junya Ishigami’s Serpentine Pavilion highlights Cumbria’s traditional stonemasonry


Japanese architect Junya Ishigami has created a shingle-covered Serpentine Pavilion that draws on the ancient building cultures of Cumbria, UK.
Frida Escobedo Serpentine Pavilion sold to Therme Group


Frida Escobedo, the youngest person yet to design a temporary Pavilion the Serpentine Gallery in London, has recently sold her creation to international spa and wellness company, Therme Group.
Serpentine Pavilion opens with Unzipped exhibition in Toronto


The 2016 Serpentine Pavilion installation, designed by renowned architectural practice Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), has now opened in Toronto having been rebuilt in the Canadian city.
Frida Escobedo's 2018 Serpentine Pavilion ready for public opening


Mexican architect Frida Escobedo's Serpentine Pavilion will open in Kensington Gardens, London on Friday (15 June).
MORE NEWS
The Good Spa Guide sets up event for modified Good Spa Guide Awards
The UK spa review and discovery platform for consumers, the Good Spa Guide, has announced it will host the Good Spa Guide Awards 2026 during an event on 16 November at Sopwell House Hotel in St Albans, UK.
McKinsey: 84 per cent of consumers say wellness is a top priority
Eighty-four per cent of consumers now say wellness is a top priority in their lives, with this percentage increasing year on year, according to a preview presentation of McKinsey’s Future of Wellness 2026 research report.
Protests continue in Albania against US$1.6 billion luxury resort backed by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump
Mass protests have been taking place since Monday 1 June in Albania over the development of a luxury resort by Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner.
Barons Eden rebrands to Hiddenwell ahead of spa hotel portfolio expansion
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DIARY

 

21-23 Jun 2026

Spa Life International (UK)

Midlands (Venue TBA), Liphook, United Kingdom
22-22 Jun 2026

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Worldwide,
+ More diary  
 


ADVERTISE . CONTACT US

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Tel: +44 (0)1462 431385

©Cybertrek 2026

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