Frida Escobedo is the first solo woman since Zaha Hadid to design a Serpentine Pavilion

Frida Escobedo has been added to the list of esteemed Serpentine Pavilion allum. Following in the blueprints of Francis Kéré last year, and BIG in 2016, the Mexican architect will be the first solo woman to take on the challenge since the late Zaha Hadid in 2000.
Selected by Serpentine artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist and CEO Yana Peel, with help from advisors David Adjaye and Richard Rogers, Escobedo is also the youngest architect to be chosen for the project in its 18-year history. Born in 1979 in Mexico City, Escobedo established a studio in her home town 12 years ago. She has become known for her championing of Mexican design inspirations and practices, something she intends to convey in her Serpentine Pavilion commission, which features a courtyard enclosed by dark latticed walls, intended as a play on the celosia – a common trope in Mexican architecture that allows breeze to flow through buildings.
In what the architect describes as ‘a meeting of material and historical inspirations’, the courtyard design will also be site-specific to London. Along with positioning the interior wall of the courtyard along the Greenwich Meridian line (a summation of the British timezone, established in 1851), Escobedo will also use a palate of British materials (namely cement and wood), chosen for their atmospheric, dark qualities.
Widely acknowledged as one of the more challenging briefs in architecture thanks to its short six-month time frame, and the Pavilion’s multi-function as both performance area, object of art and public installation, Yana Peel believes Escobedo has hit the nail on the head. ‘It promises to be a place of both deep reflection and dynamic encounter’, she says, hoping it will bring ‘the urgency of art and architecture to the widest audiences.’
The commission follows a string of international successes for Escobedo. She impressed last year at the Chicago Architecture Bienniale, with her multi-levelled gathering place that overhauled a reading room of the old Chicago Convention Centre library, and for giving the former studio and home of Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros a new lease of life in 2012. Her eclectic oeuvre also includes interior architecture for Aesop, and a commission for the V&A Museum in London. This new, highly public commission – a meeting of timezones, functions and cultures – promises to share Escobedo’s work with a larger audience, offering her practice more of the widespread recognition it deserves.
A render of the inside courtyard enclosed by dark latticed walls.
Left, a drawing of the Serpentine Pavilion. © Frida Escobedo. Right, Frida Escobedo.
El Eco Pavilion by Frida Escobedo, 2010, Mexico City.
La Tallera by Frida Escobedo, 2012, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.
El Eco Pavilion by Frida Escobedo, 2010, Mexico City.
INFORMATION
From 15 June to 7 October 2018. For more information, visit the Serpentine Pavilion website and Frida Escobedo’s website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Elly Parsons is the Digital Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees Wallpaper.com and its social platforms. She has been with the brand since 2015 in various roles, spending time as digital writer – specialising in art, technology and contemporary culture – and as deputy digital editor. She was shortlisted for a PPA Award in 2017, has written extensively for many publications, and has contributed to three books. She is a guest lecturer in digital journalism at Goldsmiths University, London, where she also holds a masters degree in creative writing. Now, her main areas of expertise include content strategy, audience engagement, and social media.
-
What is the role of fragrance in contemporary culture, asks a new exhibition at 10 Corso Como
Milan concept store 10 Corso Como has partnered with London creative agency System Preferences to launch Olfactory Projections 01
By Hannah Tindle Published
-
Jack White's Third Man Records opens a Paris pop-up
Jack White's immaculately-branded record store will set up shop in the 9th arrondissement this weekend
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Designer Marta de la Rica’s elegant Madrid studio is full of perfectly-pitched contradictions
The studio, or ‘the laboratory’ as de la Rica and her team call it, plays with colour, texture and scale in eminently rewarding ways
By Anna Solomon Published
-
'We need to be constantly reminded of our similarities' – Jonathan Baldock challenges the patriarchal roots of a former Roman temple in London
Through use of ceramics and textiles, British artist Jonathan Baldock creates a magical and immersive exhibition at ‘0.1%’ at London's Mithraum Bloomberg Space
By Emily Steer Published
-
Discover Rotimi Fani-Kayode's fluid photographs of the queer male body, on show in London
‘Rotimi-Fani Kayode: The Studio – Staging Desire’ at Autograph ABP celebrates the work of the Nigerian-born photographer
By Upasana Das Published
-
Saatchi Gallery is in full bloom with floral works from Vivienne Westwood, Marimekko, Buccellati and more
‘Flowers – Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture’ at Saatchi Gallery, London, explores the relationship between creatives and their floral muses, and spans from fashion and jewellery to tattoos
By Tianna Williams Published
-
'I want to get into these images and perfume them': Linder's retrospective opens at the Hayward Gallery
'Linder: Danger Came Smiling' gathers fifty years of the artist's work at the Hayward Gallery. We meet the punk provocateur ahead of her first retrospective
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Tasneem Sarkez's heady mix of kitsch, Arabic and Americana hits London
Artist Tasneem Sarkez draws on an eclectic range of references for her debut solo show, 'White-Knuckle' at Rose Easton
By Zoe Whitfield Published
-
‘A call to action for more authentic expressions of working-class life’: a London show reframes working-class Britain
London exhibition ‘Lives Less Ordinary’, at Two Temple Place, challenges age-old stereotypes
By Teshome Douglas-Campbell Published
-
‘Dr Tetris’ on the biggest ever iteration of the puzzle in London
Tetris comes to 360-degree, 23,000 sq ft, 16k LED screens in London; Craig McLean speaks to Henk Rogers, the man who’s kept the game alive
By Craig McLean Published
-
Never-before-seen Barbara Hepworth works go on show in landmark exhibition
In ‘Barbara Hepworth: Strings’, various Hepworth sculptures will be exhibited in public for the first time, at Piano Nobile, London
By Anna Solomon Published