Korean-inspired design for the Serpentine Pavilion 2024

A tea house and a library will be built in Kensington Gardens as part of this year Serpentine Pavilion.

The project, which is the 23rd annual pavilion built next to the Serpentine Gallery, is being designed by South Korean architect Minsuk Cho and his firm Mass Studies.

It includes plans for five structures designed around an open space including the library, the tea house and a play tower and is inspired by traditional courtyards - called madang - which are found in old Korean houses.

Cho, whose building will be unveiled on June 5, said he was "honoured and grateful" to be chosen to design the pavilion.

He said: "We began by asking what can be uncovered and added to the Serpentine site, which has already explored over 20 iterations at the centre of the lawn, from a roster of great architects and artists.

"To approach this new chapter differently, instead of viewing it as a carte blanche, we embraced the challenge of considering the many existing peripheral elements while exploring the centre as a void.

"It also begins to address the history of the Serpentine Pavilion. By inverting the centre as a void, we shift our architectural focus away from the built centre of the past, facilitating new possibilities and narratives.”

The temporary pavilion will also host live events from music and dance to poetry throughout the year.

Previous designers that have worked on the pavilion inlcude Zaha Hadid and Ai Weiwei.

The Serpentine's chief executive Bettina Korek and artistic director Hans Ulbrich Obrist said the "multifacted concept" continued the pavilion's tradition of being "a model for exploring innovative ideas in architecture.”