The Pavilion opens to the public today Mexican architect Frida Escobedo was so surprised by the invitation to design the 2018 Serpentine Pavilion in London that when the Serpentine Gallery first called she thought it had something to do with being put on their mailing list. This kind of admission, which Escobedo made at the pavilion opening earlier this week, brings home both the stature and popularity of an annual commission that recruits some of the world?s most compelling architects to create their first structure in the U.K.?and a one-of-a-kind architectural experience for locals and visitors alike.

Photo by Cuauhtemoc García courtesy of Serpentine Galleries
Frida Escobedo.

Escobedo is only the second solo woman, after Zaha Hadid, and the youngest architect ever to design a pavilion for the Gallery?s lawn, erected in London?s Kensington Gardens every summer. And to make her mark on this high-profile stage, Escobedo stuck firmly to her studio?s ethos of ?using raw, industrial and simple materials in sophisticated or complex ways?. The result, which opens today and is on view through October 7, is sober, austere, and almost hermetic from a distance. On closer examination, you will discover its lattice walls, a contemporary reference to Mexican celosia (breeze walls), made of rough-edged and dark undulating cement roof tiles, and woven into patterns that vary in tightness to let in different amounts of light.
Once inside the pavilion,...