Mass Studies founder Minsuk Cho has been announced as the designer of this year's Serpentine Pavilion and the first visuals of his design revealed.
Named Archipelagic Void, the pavilion is set to open in London's Kensington Gardens in June 2024 and will be Seoul-based Korean architect Cho's first building in the UK.
The 23rd pavilion will consist of five structures, described as "islands", arranged in a star shape around a central, circular void. It was informed by small courtyards named madangs that are found at the centre of historic Korean houses.
Minsuk Cho will design this year's Serpentine Pavilion
According to Cho, who leads Korean studio Mass Studies, the building's design was informed by the site's history and an investigation of the previous 22 pavilions that have been built on the site. "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," said Cho.
"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," he added. "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.&...