The 56-year-old Dhaka-born architects proposal for the temporary structure in Kensington Gardens, London, will be the 24th in the gallerys ongoing series of annual architectural commissions, which began 25 years ago with Zaha Hadid (see full list of previous designers below) in 2000.Tabassumset up MTA in 2005 after a decade working for Dhaka-based studio URBANA, during which time the firm won international design competitions for the Independence Monument of Bangladesh and the countrys Museum of Independence.In 2016, she received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for the Bait ur Rouf Mosque in Dhaka, and in 2021 Tabassum was awarded the Soane Medal in recognition of her pioneering work designing low-cost temporary homes for refugees and victims of climate change.AdvertisementMore on this topicMarina Tabassum completes demountable house for Vitra CampusTabassum teaches at several universities, including the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands. In 2023, Tabassum held the Norman Foster Chair at Yale University.The concept for the 2025 Serpentine Pavilion, which has been titled A Capsule in Time, draws on the history and form of Shamiyana tents and awnings used for ceremonial occasions in South Asia, while honouring arched garden canopies found in the surrounding park.Set up on a north-to-south axis, the oblong-shaped pavilion features four wooden capsules, or arches, which will diffuse daylight and simultaneously provide shelter. The design also includes a kinetic element whereby one of the capsule elements can move and connect with another. In the middle, a courtyard space with a tree will align with the Serpentine Gallerys belltower. Source:Marina Tabassum Architects2025 Serpentine PavilionExplaining the teams approach to designing the pavilion, Tabassum said: When conceiving our design, we reflected on the transient nature of the commission, which appears to us as a capsule of memory and time. The archaic volume of a half-capsule, generated by geometry and wrapped in light semi-transparent material, will create a play of filtered light that will pierce through the structure as if under a Shamiyana at a Bengali wedding.Serpentine chief executive Bettina Korek and artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist said: A Capsule in Time will honour connections with the Earth and celebrate the spirit of community. Built around a mature tree at the centre of the structure, Tabassums design will bring the park inside the Pavilion. Its kinetic dimension will also harken back to the levitating element of Rem Koolhaas & Cecil Balmond with Arups Serpentine Pavilion 2006.AdvertisementLast summers pavilion, designed by Seoul-born Mass Studies founder Minsuk Cho, featured five islands arranged around an open space, similar to the small courtyards found in traditional Korean houses. Source:Asif SalmanMarina TabassumSerpentine Pavilion history2025 Marina Tabassum2024 Mass Studies2023 Lina Ghotmeh2022Theaster Gates2021Counterspace2019Junya Ishigami2018Frida Escobedo2017Dibdo Francis Kr2016 BIG Bjarke Ingels2015SelgasCano2014Smiljan Radic2013Sou Fujimoto2012Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei2011Peter Zumthor2010Jean Nouvel2009Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, SANAA2008Frank Gehry2007Olafur Eliasson and Kjetil Thorsen2006Rem Koolhaas and Cecil Balmond with Arup2005lvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura with Cecil Balmond, Arup2004 MVRDV with Arup (unrealised)2003Oscar Niemeyer2002Toyo Ito and Cecil Balmond with Arup2001Daniel Libeskind with Arup2000Zaha Hadid