The 22nd Serpentine Pavilion, created by French-Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh, will debut in Serpentine South on June 9, 2023. The name of the Pavilion, “À table” in French, is a call for guests to gather around over a meal and have a candid conversation. The vast table that wraps around the Pavilion’s center provides a focal point for socializing and exchanging thoughts, feelings, and rituals.
The 300-square-meter building takes design cues from the architect’s Mediterranean roots and is portable and readily removable to reduce environmental impact. From June to October 2023, visitors can enjoy the 22nd Serpentine Pavilion at no cost daily.
Lina Ghotmeh for Serpentine 2023. © Harry Richards
The 22nd Serpentine Pavilion’s Concept
The 22nd Serpentine Pavilion is a wooden structure that blends in with its natural settings, and within, there is an ample circular space with seating for everyone to gather around a table and chat. Lina Ghotmeh worked with The Conran Shop to design the Pavilion’s furniture. Two brand-new pieces of oak furniture with a deep crimson finish were custom-made for the space. The 25 tables and 57 stools inside the Pavilion are part of the festive exhibition and are a translation of Ghothmah’s call to come together, contribute, and embrace the mingling of nations.
Serpentine Pavilion 2023, designed by Lina Ghotmeh. © Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture. Photo: Iwan Baan, Courtesy: Serpentine.
The 22nd Serpentine Pavilion encourages guests to use bio-sourced and low-carbon materials to converse with the surrounding landscape. Wooden trusses wrap the interior, giving the room a form reflective of the foliage on the outside.
The space’s centerpiece is marked by a lightwell made possible by the folded roof, and the fretwork panels’ plant-inspired carved forms let in air and sunlight. The small, low-roofed building is reminiscent of the vernacular structures in Mali, West Africa, where locals assemble for conversations and make decisions on pressing matters.
Serpentine Pavilion 2023, designed by Lina Ghotmeh. © Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture. Photo: Iwan Baan, Courtesy: Serpentine.
Artist and musician Tarek Atoui crafted a soundtrack for the 22nd Serpentine Pavilion based on sketches by Lina Ghotmeh and his continuous research into classical and rural Arab music, boosting the overall quality of the pavilion atmosphere. In a companion catalog, forthcoming in August 2023, authors including Ali Cherri, Beatriz Colomina, Bernard Comment, Fouad Elkoury, Simone Fattal, and David Zilber will expand on those concepts. Furthermore, the Serpentine Pavilion will host “Park Nights,” a multidisciplinary live venue showcasing the arts, music, literature, and dance, on various Friday nights.
Serpentine Pavilion 2023, designed by Lina Ghotmeh. © Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture. Photo: Iwan Baan, Courtesy: Serpentine.
Architect Lina Ghotmeh shared her thoughts about the 22nd Serpentine Pavilion, “This Pavilion is a place of celebration in these dynamic times. It features a table, which we will use to engage in communal debate while seated in a modest, simple room inspired by the Toguna huts of the Dogon people of Mali, West Africa. This is where we can eat, perform tasks, gather, discuss, reconsider, and ultimately make our choices.”
Lina Ghotmeh for Serpentine 2023. © Harry Richards
Serpentine Pavilion 2023, designed by Lina Ghotmeh. © Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture. Photo: Iwan Baan, Courtesy: Serpentine.
Established in 2000, the Serpentine Pavilion invites established and up-and-coming architects to explore new avenues of inquiry into modern design and their challenges in the field. Artist Theater Gates aimed to develop a community to provide mutual mental and intellectual assistance in 2022.
Counterspace dismantled the Pavilion’s framework a year ago to make allusions to other kinds of public gathering places. In 2019, Junya Ishigami designed a slate sheet that rises from the park’s terrain. In 2018, Frida Escobedo recreated a less popular characteristic of Mexican architecture by constructing a sealed patio.
