Mexican architecture studio LANZA atelier, founded by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo, is appointed to design the Serpentine Pavilion 2026. Titled ‘a serpentine’, the pavilion will open to the public on June 6th, 2026, at Serpentine South in London’s Kensington Gardens. The announcement coincides with the Pavilion’s 25th edition, which Serpentine will mark through a special collaboration with the Zaha Hadid Foundation, reflecting on the legacy of the inaugural pavilion designed by Hadid in 2000.

LANZA atelier’s proposal draws from the serpentine, or crinkle-crankle, wall, a historic English architectural feature composed of alternating curves. Originally developed in ancient Egypt and later introduced to England by Dutch engineers, the serpentine wall gains its structural stability from its geometry, allowing it to be only one brick thick while maintaining strength. 

Serpentine Pavilion 2026 a serpentine, designed by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo, LANZA atelier | design renders © LANZA atelier. courtesy Serpentine

a serpentine is shaped by curves, climate, and movement

The pavilion is positioned on the northern side of the site and structured through two main walls. One traces the serpentine geometry, while the other aligns with the existing tree canopy. A translucent roof rests lightly on brick columns, evoking a grove of trees and allowing light and air to move freely through the structure. 

Brick is used as the primary material, referencing both the English garden tradition and the existing brick facade of the Serpentine South Gallery, which was originally a tea pavilion itself. Through rhythmic repetition, the brick columns transition from opaque to permeable, creating a gradient of openness. LANZA atelier frames this material strategy as a metaphorical bridge between Europe and the Americas, linking vernacular traditions through shared construction logics rather than symbolic gestures. According to the architectural duo, the project is conceived as ‘a device that both reveals and withholds,’ shaping how people move through space. They draw parallels with England’s fruit walls, which historically moderated climate and created sheltered micro-environments. From this lineage emerges a Pavilion built from simple clay brick, foregrounding what the architects describe as ‘the elemental capacity of architecture to bring people together.’

LANZA atelier’s proposal draws a historic English architectural feature composed of alternating curves

a platform for cultural exchange and experimentation

Since its inception, the Serpentine Pavilion has served as a platform for architectural experimentation, offering architects a rare opportunity to test ideas in a public, open-access context. Over time, the commission has evolved from a one-off structure into a broader cultural infrastructure, hosting lectures, performances, screenings, and interdisciplinary events. 

Serpentine CEO Bettina Korek frames the Pavilion as a structure that extends beyond its physical form, connecting people, landscape, and ideas. Artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist emphasizes the institution’s increasing focus on younger practices over the past decade, describing LANZA atelier’s work as deeply embedded in material, context, and lived experience. Their pavilion, he notes, will function as a ‘content machine,’ hosting live events across disciplines throughout the summer and autumn.

The 2026 edition will also include a dedicated architectural program developed in collaboration with the Zaha Hadid Foundation. This initiative aims to reflect on Hadid’s legacy while fostering transnational and transgenerational dialogue around contemporary architectural questions. Former Pavilion architects will be invited to contribute, linking the Pavilion’s history to its future trajectories.

the serpentine wall gains its structural stability from its geometry

the pavilion is positioned on the northern side of the site and structured through two main walls

conceptual sketch, worm’s eye view | image © LANZA atelier. Courtesy Serpentine.

Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo of LANZA atelier | image © Pia Riverola

project info: 

name: a serpentine
architect: LANZA atelier | @lanzaatelier

lead architects: Isabel Abascal, Alessandro Arienzo
location: Serpentine South, Kensington Gardens, London, UK

event: Serpentine Pavilion | @serpentineuk
opening date: June 6th, 2026

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London’s unmistakable Brutalist colossus, the Barbican Centre, is set to pause its regular operations and close its doors for a full year beginning in June 2028 as part of an ambitious renovation program. The project will be led by Allies and Morrison, Asif Khan Studio, and Buro Happold.

The Barbican, a Grade II-listed cultural powerhouse designed by Chamberlin, Powell & Bon and built between 1965 and 1982, has since stood as an iconic mixed-use development with residential, recreational, and cultural facilities. It houses one of Europe’s most celebrated multi-arts portfolios, including the Barbican Art Gallery, Curve, Level 2 Gallery, a world-class concert hall, theatre spaces, cinemas, and the much-loved Conservatory. The building was captured in recent photographs by David Altrath.

images © David Altrath

the year-long ‘barbican renewal programme’

Nearly forty-five years after the centre’s opening, wear and aging infrastructure have begun to show, prompting a renovation dubbed the Barbican Renewal Programme. Led by Asif Khan Studio, Allies and Morrison, and Buro Happold, the extensive overhaul aims at securing the center’s future for decades to come. The project will see key public spaces — from the dramatic foyers and lakeside terrace to the landmark Conservatory — restored and reimagined, while vital infrastructure is modernized to meet contemporary standards of accessibility, sustainability, and creative flexibility. 

the centre was designed by Chamberlin, Powell & Bon and built between 1965 and 1982

the renovation: What Will Close and What Will Remain Open

The closure will run from the end of June 2028 until summer 2029. During this time, most of Barbican programs and spaces will be under construction. However, the Barbican cinemas on Beech Street will remain open, and the surrounding residential estate will stay accessible. In addition, creative partnerships and off-site programming are expected to help maintain the Barbican’s cultural presence across London while the walls are quiet.

The City of London Corporation has already committed a £191 million funding package toward the first phase of renewal, representing roughly eighty per cent of the required investment, with the remainder to be raised through a fundraising campaign. This ambitious pause comes at a defining moment with the Barbican’s fiftieth anniversary on the horizon in 2032.

the closure will run from the end of June 2028 until summer 2029

project info:

name: Barbican Renewal Programme | @barbicancentre

architects: Allies and Morrison, Asif Khan Studio, Buro Happold

closure dates: June 2028 — Summer 2029

photography: © David Altrath | @davidaltrath

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Photographer David Altrath walks the Barbican Centre, tracing how elevated walkways, heavy concrete masses, and layered water landscapes shape one of Britain’s boldest experiments in high-density urban living. Designed by Chamberlin, Powell, and Bon and completed in 1982, the estate rises from post-war London. Altrath focuses on the constant shifts of light, weather, and movement that animate the megastructure of the Brutalist icon.

The scale of the estate is felt in the sweeping view of its terrace blocks rising over the central green. Narrow balconies wrap the long facades, filled with red flowers, potted plants, and the everyday objects of residents. Below, a lawn dotted with picnics and a small playground softens the geometry, revealing the original intention of the architects to merge high-density housing with generous public space. Behind the horizontal stack of apartments, the crisp verticality of newer office towers reminds viewers of the role of the estate as a cultural enclave carved into the commercial center of the city.

all images by David Altrath

elevated paths and water gardens shape the brutalist landmark

Moving into the complex, Hamburg-based photographer Altrath focuses on its elevated pedestrian routes, the system of brick-tiled walkways that binds the estate together. One corridor curves under a low concrete canopy, framed by slender black steel posts and lit by a soft glow that pushes the eye outward toward surrounding trees. Another walkway runs straight into a thicket of cylindrical columns, their rough-cast surfaces catching the daylight. A painted yellow line down the center subtly hints at the estate’s circulation logic, a city built for walkers above the traffic of the ground plane.

At the water gardens, layered terraces, fountains, and planted islands unfold in a slow gradient toward the lake. Altrath catches families perched on a circular brick island feeding ducks, reeds rustling in the wind, and sunlight flickering through the surface of the ponds. The rhythm of the fountains runs parallel to the long reflections of the residential towers, tying the vertical and horizontal scales of the Barbican into one continuous landscape.

David Altrath walks the Barbican Centre

london’s urban past through concrete, water, and film

From beneath the terrace blocks, the camera turns to the estate’s undercrofts, vast yet quiet spaces where columns descend straight into the water and the echoes of the city fade. Altrath frames these supports as sculptural elements, highlighting the surprising delicacy in their arrangement despite the weight they carry overhead.

Throughout the series, fragments of older London appear between concrete planes through church windows, pale stone facades, and medieval remnants peeking through the estate’s elevated pathways. These juxtapositions underline the Barbican’s layered history, a reconstruction of a bombed district, a proclamation of modernist ideals, and now a cultural landmark continuously reshaped by its users.

Shot on Kodak Vision3 250D and 500T, the photographs embrace the warmth, grain, and atmospheric softness of film. Altrath uses the medium to pull out the shift of color across aggregate surfaces, the texture of water meeting brick, and the way planted edges soften the monumental presence of the estate. 

elevated walkways, heavy concrete masses, and layered water landscapes shape the complex

one of Britain’s boldest experiments in high-density urban living

designed by Chamberlin, Powell, and Bon and completed in 1982

Altrath focuses on the constant shifts of light, weather, and movement that animate the megastructure

the scale of the estate is felt in the sweeping view of its terrace blocks rising over the central green

narrow balconies wrap the long facades

the camera turns to the estate’s undercrofts

brick-tiled walkways bind the estate together

moving into the complex, Altrath focuses on its elevated pedestrian routes

rough-cast surfaces

the photographs embrace the warmth, grain and atmospheric softness of film

Altrath uses the medium to pull out subtleties often overlooked in Brutalist structures

the cultural landmark is continuously reshaped by its users

a cultural enclave carved into the commercial center of the city

project info:

name: Barbican Centre

photographer: David Altrath | @davidaltrath

architects: Chamberlin, Powell and Bon

location: London, Great Britain

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Heatherwick Studio and MANICA Architecture introduce their design for a new stadium for Birmingham City Football Club at Bordesley Green in East Birmingham. The announcement has come in time for the club’s 150th anniversary and will be the centerpiece of an ambitious plan for the wider Birmingham Sports Quarter.

The scheme positions the stadium as a central civic element for the district, drawing from the city’s material heritage and industrial landscape. Early images show a structure shaped by mass and texture rather than surface expression, bringing a clear architectural identity to the project.

visualizations © MIR

HEATHERWICK STUDIO DRAWS FROM THE CITY’S INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE

The design by Heatherwick Studio and MANICA Architecture orients the stadium in Birmingham around twelve chimney-like towers that rise from the ground plane and support the roof. Heatherwick Studio draws from Birmingham’s history of brickmaking, using reclaimed bricks where possible to give these structural elements a layered, tactile presence. Their scale defines the outer form while shaping light, airflow, and movement inside the building.

Each chimney accommodates circulation or environmental functions. Some contain lifts and staircases, while others contribute to passive ventilation. One tower will carry visitors to an elevated bar with panoramic views across Birmingham, carving a vertical public room into the stadium’s profile.

Heatherwick Studio and MANICA Architecture introduce their design for Birmingham City Football Club stadium

INTERIORS BY MANICA

Inside, MANICA guides the bowl configuration with a steep arrangement that brings supporters close to the pitch. The geometry creates a cohesive enclosure intended to concentrate sound and energy. The roof, engineered for adaptability, retracts when required, while the moveable pitch extends the venue’s use beyond football.

Acoustics played a central role in the design process. The chimney structures shape the movement of sound, lifting crowd noise upward while reducing its reach into nearby neighborhoods. The result is a controlled, resonant environment that prioritizes matchday atmosphere while remaining sensitive to the surrounding district.

the centerpiece of an ambitious plan for the wider Birmingham Sports Quarter

Around the stadium, Heatherwick Studio develops a ground-level environment conceived as an active civic space throughout the week. The plan includes food markets, cafés, informal seating, and children’s play areas, giving the site the character of a local gathering place rather than a closed sports venue.

Paths, shaded pockets, and open surfaces guide movement toward the entrances while encouraging visitors to linger. The ambition is to create a continuous public realm where the stadium acts as a social anchor for East Birmingham and not just a destination on matchdays.

drawing from the city’s material heritage and industrial landscape

MANICA guides the bowl configuration with a steep arrangement

Heatherwick Studio develops a ground-level environment conceived as an active civic space

the plan includes food markets, cafés, informal seating, and children’s play area

the ambition is to create a continuous public realm where the stadium acts as a social anchor

project info:

name: Birmingham City FC New Stadium

location: Bordesley Green, East Birmingham, UK

architect: Heatherwick Studio | @officialheatherwickstudio

stadium design + bowl: MANICA Architecture | @manicaarchitecture

client: Birmingham City Football Club / Knighthead

collaborator: Steven Knight 

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The RIBA Stirling Prize 2025 has been awarded to Appleby Blue Almshouse by Witherford Watson Mann Architects, a pioneering model for housing in later life that reimagines the centuries-old almshouse for the 21st century. Replacing a disused care home in Southwark, the scheme’s terracotta walkways, generous communal spaces, and street-facing bay windows foster connection while restoring dignity to older residents. With its warm material palette and quietly radical plan, Appleby Blue demonstrates how architecture can combat isolation through thoughtful design and civic care.

This year’s other RIBA awards further celebrate architecture’s social conscience: St. Mary’s Walthamstow by Matthew Lloyd Architects received the Stephen Lawrence Prize; Appleby Blue Almshouse also earned the Neave Brown Award for Housing; its client, United St Saviour’s Charity, was named Client of the Year; and Sheerness Dockyard Church by Hugh Broughton Architects won the Reinvention Award for transforming a fire-damaged ruin into a vibrant community space.

Appleby Blue Almshouse, Witherford Watson Mann Architects, Southwark, London

Stirling Prize 2025

Winner of the RIBA Stirling Prize 2025, Appleby Blue Almshouse by Witherford Watson Mann Architects redefines what housing for later life can be. Built on the site of a former care home in Southwark, the project offers 57 social-rent apartments for residents over 65, designed to nurture connection and independence equally.

The architects have inverted the traditional almshouse layout, placing generous communal spaces — a double-height garden room, kitchen, and shared terraces — at its core to encourage chance encounters and shared meals. Wide, terracotta-paved galleries, lined with planters and benches, replace corridors with streets in the sky, while bay windows overlooking the high street subtly dissolve boundaries between residents and the wider community.

Behind its brick facade lies a warm, timber-clad interior that feels domestic rather than institutional. Every element, from the discreet accessibility details to the open sightlines across the complex, reflects a deep understanding of ageing as a social, not solitary, condition. Appleby Blue sets a new benchmark for civic-minded architecture, and stands as proof that beauty and dignity belong at the heart of social housing.

Stephen Lawrence Prize 2025

The winner of the Stephen Lawrence Prize 2025 is St. Mary’s Walthamstow by Matthew Lloyd Architects.

‘St Mary’s, the oldest and — with its Grade II* listed status — most protected building in Walthamstow, has been sensitively repaired and transformed into a flexible, inclusive and welcoming space for the whole community to enjoy, as well as a place of worship. With a focus on encouraging and nurturing new talent, the award exclusively recognises projects led by an early career project architect [in this case, project architect Alex Spicer].’

St. Mary’s Walthamstow, Matthew Lloyd Architects, Walthamstow, London

Neave Brown Award for Housing

The winner of the Neave Brown Award for Housing 2025 is Appleby Blue Almshouse by Witherford Watson Mann Architects.

‘Given in honour of modernist architect and social housing pioneer, Neave Brown, the annual award recognises the UK’s best new affordable housing. Carefully designed to reduce loneliness and isolation, Appleby Blue Almshouse, which provides social housing for over 65’s, balances public, semi-public, and private spaces – including generous walkways, shared gardens, and a communal kitchen, to foster connection and support independence.

‘The scheme embodies Neave Brown’s belief in housing as a civic and social project, as it not only provides secure homes at social rent, but it also represents a thoughtful framework for living well in later life.’

Appleby Blue Almshouse, Witherford Watson Mann Architects, Southwark, London

Client of the Year

The winner of Client of the Year 2025 is United St Saviour’s Charity for Appleby Blue Almshouse by Witherford Watson Mann Architects.

‘This award celebrates the crucial role of clients in championing outstanding architecture. Tackling social isolation among older generations living in Southwark was a key priority, so the charity worked closely with Witherford Watson Mann Architects to ensure the design focused on creating spaces to encourage chance meetings and enable easy interaction between residents.

‘Features including its double-height garden room and community kitchen, where residents come together for meals and various group activities, and smaller shared spaces, including a glazed porch and gallery on the first-floor level, give residents an opportunity to connect and observe the daily bustle of the high street location — are both integral to the success of the design.’

Appleby Blue Almshouse, Witherford Watson Mann Architects, Southwark, London

reinvention award

The winner of the 2025 RIBA Reinvention Award has been announced as Sheerness Dockyard Church by Hugh Broughton Architects.

‘The award recognises buildings that have been creatively reused to improve their environmental, social, or economic sustainability, to increase their longevity and energy efficiency, rather than demolishing and rebuilding them.

The disused building, which had been on Historic England’s ‘Heritage at Risk’ register due to fire damage, was sensitively restored by Hugh Broughton Architects using innovative material, and employing local skills and labour, to preserve its exterior and retain original features.

‘The former church’s new multi-faceted role as a community facility hosting a co-working space, café, public exhibition areas and an events venue has breathed new life into the community and Sheerness as a whole.’

Sheerness Dockyard Church, Hugh Broughton Architects, Sheerness, Isle of Sheppey, Kent, England

Stirling Prize People’s Poll

With thousands of votes cast overall, the people chose the Elizabeth Tower restoration by Purcell Architecture as their winner of RIBA’s Stirling Prize People’s Poll 2025.

‘Housing the symbolic bell and timepiece of the nation (Big Ben), the most comprehensive restoration of Elizabeth Tower in 160 years is a masterpiece in conservation and craftsmanship.’

‘Like many conservation projects, appreciating the achievement requires some investigation. The shape of the tower, the clock faces and the sounds of the bells are mostly appreciated from a distance, as a dominant presence within one of the world’s most recognisable skylines. The jury’s inspection was carried out from within, after entering through a very modest door to one side of the main thoroughfare of MPs and parliamentary staff going about their business.

‘Work led by Purcell at the lower levels included extensive stone repairs, the refurbishment of various interior rooms for exhibitions and admin, and the clever insertion of a passenger lift which must be a welcome addition to the clock engineers and tour guides.’

Elizabeth Tower restoration, Purcell Architecture, London, England

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Photographer Philip Butler turns his lens on a vanishing piece of Britain’s built landscape in his book 226 Garages and Service Stations. The publication catalogues the nation’s petrol age in 252 pages, capturing an architectural lineage that spans Mock-Tudor fantasies, streamlined moderne curves, and humble repair shops tucked into railway arches or converted chapels. Published in the spirit of Ed Ruscha’s Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1963), Butler’s survey reveals how the evolution of motoring shaped the architectural vernacular of the 20th century.

Black Cat Garage, Bampton, Devon c.1930 | all images by Philip Butler

226 Garages and Service Stations highlights adaptive reuse

Worcestershire-based photographer Philip Butler also highlights adaptive reuse through 226 Garages and Service Stations. As demand for vehicle testing surged in the 1960s, disused cinemas, churches, fire stations, and even factories were pressed into service. St John’s Garage in Wigtownshire, once a Presbyterian church, and a former fire station at Hythe, illustrate the improvisational quality of British motoring infrastructure. Some abandoned sites found gentler afterlives: a decommissioned filling station in Withypool, Devon, now serves as a tearoom popular with bikers and classic car enthusiasts.

Certain landmarks, however, remain architectural showpieces. Michelin House in Chelsea, completed in 1911 by François Espinasse, fused British Art Nouveau with the French tire company’s branding, its stained glass, glazed terracotta tiles, and tire-shaped cupolas setting a benchmark for corporate architecture. In Leeds, Appleyard’s Neo-Georgian garage by Sir Reginald Blomfield (1932) married municipal formality with automotive convenience, complete with an octagonal hut and circular forecourt.

Manor Road Garage, East Preston, West Sussex, 1934

post-war futurism: concrete canopies and sci-fi silhouettes

As automobiles began to dominate British roads in the early 1900s, garages emerged to service, repair, and refuel these machines. What started as pragmatic structures soon mirrored broader design currents. In the 1920s, concerns over visual blight led to regulations that produced unexpected hybrids: rustic thatched filling stations, like The Garage Marsdon, where petrol pumps stood incongruously beneath combustible roofs. Elsewhere, Black Cat Garage in Devon followed the period’s obsession with faux-medieval beams, while at Brooklands motor circuit, oil companies erected rival pagoda-style kiosks to mark their territory at the racetrack.

By the 1930s, the aerodynamic glamour of the Modernist movement found expression in structures like Manor Road Garage in West Sussex, its rounded corners and flat roofs echoing ocean liners and aircraft. Yet for every statement building, there were understated workshops such as Central Garage Tegryn in Pembrokeshire, modestly disguising pitched roofs behind stepped façades. Post-war Britain brought reinforced concrete into play, as seen in Islington’s 1958 Athenaeum Service Station canopy, whose starship-like silhouette recalls the science fiction craze of the era.

Across these 226 sites, Butler documents the cultural footprint of the combustion engine. As Britain moves toward an electric future, the book preserves the memory of a century when garages and petrol stations were landmarks rooted in their communities.

Former Colyford Filling Station, Devon, 1927-28

8 BP, Red Hill, Leicestershire. Originally Mobil, based on a 1964 design, 1979

Former Athenaeum Service Station, Islington, Greater London c.1955

Former C B Attride Motor Engineers, Broadstairs, Kent c. 1920s

The Garage, Isle Brewers

Four Lanes Garage, Marston, Cheshire

Garage, Southbourne, Dorset

Michelin House, Chelsea, Greater London, 1911

The Clock Garage, Woodville, Derbyshire c.1935

Silver Street Garage, Kedington, Suffolk. Avery Hardoll Pump c.1960s

St John’s Garage 1947, Whithorn, Wigtownshire. Originally St John’s Church, 1892

the book catalogues the nation’s petrol age in 252 pages

project info:

name: 226 Garages and Service Stations

photographer & author: Philip Butler | @pbutlerphotography

publisher: FUEL | @fuelpublishing

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Iron Reef is a permanent site-specific installation by Maetherea, the London-based studio led by Cristina Morbi, commissioned by Norfolk County Council for the Norfolk Way Art Trail. Located along the banks of the River Yare near the historic Reedham Ferry in Norfolk, UK, the project engages with the landscape through a kinetic, participatory structure shaped by environmental rhythms and local history.

The design draws from the chain-driven mechanism of the ferry, translating its industrial movement into a flexible field of hundreds of vertical untreated steel rebars. These rebars sway in the wind, recalling the movement of reeds, and establish a direct visual and material dialogue with Reedham’s industrial and nautical traditions. Visitors can move through the sculpture, where their presence influences subtle shifts in movement and sound.

image by Cristina Morbi

Maetherea’s design embraces natural and non-human forces

The work operates within Studio Maetherea’s concept of Design Phenology, a design approach that recognises time, weather, and non-human forces as active components of a work’s evolution. In Iron Reef, these forces are incorporated rather than resisted. Seasonal flooding submerges the lower sections of the structure, and over time, oxidation, patina, and microbial growth form a living surface. The piece becomes both a sculptural object and a habitat, linking biological processes with industrial form.

Integrated within the installation is a phosphorescent pathway, designed to absorb daylight and emit a soft glow at dusk. This feature guides visitors toward the water’s edge while maintaining a low visual impact. Like the surrounding reedbeds, the sculpture’s appearance shifts with the seasons, green in spring and summer, and golden or skeletal in autumn and winter.

permanent site-specific installation by Maetherea on the River Yare | image by Cristina Morbi

Iron Reef provides a space for observation and reflection

Through its open geometry and slow material transformation, Iron Reef provides a space for observation and reflection. It functions as an environmental and social interface, positioned at the intersection of art, ecology, and local infrastructure.

The project was supported by Broadland District Council, Reedham Parish Council, Reedham Ferry Inn + Campsite, the Broads Authority, and coordinated by Creative Giants. It contributes to the Norfolk Way Art Trail as both a sculptural landmark and a responsive structure that evolves alongside its setting, registering the passage of time and the changing conditions of the Broads.

minimal and raw, the materials are left exposed to the elements | image by Kristina Chan

hundreds of untreated steel rebars shape the sculpture | image by Cristina Morbi

Maetherea’s Design Phenology embraces time and weather as design agents | image by Kristina Chan

oxidation and patina create a living surface over time | image by Kristina Chan

the work links biological processes with industrial form | image by Kristina Chan

Iron Reef serves as an observation device and amphibious structure | image by Kristina Chan

untreated steel rebars sway gently with the breeze, echoing the rhythm of reedbeds and ferry chains | image by Kristina Chan

open geometry invites observation and reflection | image by Kristina Chan

visitors are invited to move through and touch the flexible structure, activating a quiet choreography of motion image by Kristina Chan

project info:

name: Iron Reef
designer: Maetherea | @maetherea

location: Reedham Ferry, Norfolk, UK

lead designer: Cristina Morbi

client: Norfolk County Council

fabrication: Other People’s Sculpture

engineering: Price & Myers

client’s agent: Creative Giants

project management: Aurora Destro

assistant: Cristina Brena

community engagement: Liz McGowan

partner: Broadland District Council, Reedham Parish Council

stakeholders: Reedham Ferry Inn + Campsite, Archer family, Broads Authority

photographer: Kristina Chan | @kristina_chan_, Cristina Morbi

part of: Norfolk Way Art Trail

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom

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Lucy Sparrow’s latest installation, Bourdon Street Chippy, transforms the Lyndsey Ingram Gallery in London into a fully immersive fish and chip shop rendered entirely in felt. Open through September 14th, 2025, the project continues Sparrow’s exploration of everyday environments through soft sculpture, creating a spatial experience and material presence.

The exhibition occupies the gallery’s rooms with a clear intent to emulate the structure and ambiance of a working chippy. From the banquette seating to the framed portraits on the walls, each element is conceived with a distinct attention to layout and proportion. The familiar counter lends a functional threshold between visitor and vendor, while the seating area encourages visitors to linger, treating the project as both a gallery and social space.

images © Lucy Emms (unless otherwise stated)

lucy sparrow exhibits her command of the material

At the heart of the Bourdon Street Chippy installation is artist Lucy Sparrow’s command of material translation. Over 65,000 hand-crafted felt pieces articulate every surface, container, and consumable object within the chippy. What emerges is a material language that captures the texture of linoleum flooring, the gloss of laminated menus, and the sheen of deep-fried food through stitch and shape. Even the chips, with fifteen distinct cuts in five different tones, are organized with the rigor of typological study.

The spatial layout reflects the hierarchical clarity of a traditional takeaway. Circulation paths are defined by counters, queues, and bench seating, while sightlines are organized around key objects: a felt fryer, hand-sewn condiment dispensers, and signage arranged with unified graphics.

Lucy Sparrow transforms Lyndsey Ingram Gallery into a fully immersive felt fish and chip shop

the interactive bourdon street chippy

Lucy Sparrow herself is present at Bourdon Street Chippy five days a week, reinforcing the installation’s interactivity. Her participation blurs the boundary between artist and vendor, and between object and performance. ‘The familiarity of these spaces disarms the viewer,’ Sparrow explains. ‘It’s a way of getting people to let their guard down.’

The choice of a chippy, as opposed to her previously explored subjects including a supermarket or pharmacy, adds a more intimate layer to the work. ‘My relationship with food has always influenced my art,’ she continues. ‘Over time, I came to understand that my practice had become a way to manage difficult emotions.’ In this sense, Bourdon Street Chippy operates as both a personal artifact and a public setting.

Bourdon Street Chippy recreates a familiar high street space

In bringing a High Street staple into the controlled conditions of a commercial gallery, the installation invites questions about access, nostalgia, and gentrification. The gallery’s polished context contrasts with the working-class origins of the fish and chip shop, yet the installation’s warmth and humor hold space for both critique and affection.

‘Lucy is one of the most important and meaningful artists of her generation,’ says gallerist Lyndsey Ingram. ‘Her work blurs the lines between performance and installation art, all in her distinctive felt language.’ The gallery’s transformation is comprehensive as every surface and volume supports the illusion.

visitors navigate a fabric-rendered takeaway complete with counters banquettes and signage

the installation blends sculpture and performance within a curated spatial framework

over 65,000 felt objects include fifteen chip shapes in five colors | image © Alun Callender

Bourdon Street Chippy explores themes of nostalgia, commerce, and craft

Lucy Sparrow is often present in the gallery, engaging directly with visitors

project info:

name: Bourdon Street Chippy

designer: Lucy Sparrow | @sewyoursoul

location: Lyndsey Ingram Gallery, London, UK

dates: August 1st — September 14th, 2025

photography: © Lucy Emms | @lucy.emms, © Alun Callender

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Studio Bark has completed Meadow House, a deep retrofit and extension of a Victorian villa located on Meadow Road in Tunbridge Wells, England. The residential project delivers a 75% reduction in energy bills while expanding the home’s footprint by 27%, pairing environmental performance with a tactile and deeply personal design.

Before the renovation, which introduced an extension of timber and cork, the house had remained largely unchanged for half a century. Poor thermal performance, damp, and an outdated layout made daily life uncomfortable for the homeowners, a young family of four. Studio Bark was tasked with reimagining the building while preserving the essential character of the original structure.

The team’s approach focuses on reconfiguring the internal spaces to better serve contemporary family life. A new, fifty square-meter rear extension houses a kitchen-diner, utility room, pantry, and side entrance. This extension was built by the clients using Studio Bark’s modular U-Build system, enabling a hands-on, incremental process of construction with minimal waste.

images © Jim Stephenson, courtesy Studio Bark

studio bark’s sunlit victorian retrofit

At the core of Studio Bark’s Meadow House, a triple-height atrium brings light and volume to the center of the plan. Positioned at the transition point between the Victorian structure and the new addition, the atrium is framed by the original staircase and capped by a series of rooflights. It offers a vertical axis of connection, drawing in daylight and easing the flow between old and new without requiring visual or spatial uniformity. This way, the architects balance openness with privacy. Circulation spaces are widened and reoriented, while storage and utility spaces are tucked into the edges.

The interior palette contrasts preserved Victorian features with natural materials that emphasize texture and tactility. Architraves and timber floors have been restored, while exposed spruce plywood and natural cork cladding lend the new areas a quiet warmth. Throughout the house, reuse and craftsmanship are emphasized. Furniture has been reupholstered, joinery is bespoke, and the pantry has been designed around an inherited dresser. The children’s bedrooms, housed within the U-Build framework, create a playful offset in scale and material — what the family describes as ‘feeling like a treehouse.’

the project is a retrofit and extension of a Victorian home in Tunbridge Wells

passive strategies and circular construction

Alongside its spatial character, Studio Bark defines its Meadow House by its environmental ambition. The retrofit includes a comprehensive thermal upgrade using low-carbon, breathable materials such as cork, wood fiber, and sheep wool insulation. These materials support moisture regulation while achieving airtightness targets that contribute to thermal stability. Energy use is significantly reduced by the integration of a mechanical ventilation heat recovery (MVHR) system, an air source heat pump, and underfloor heating. These measures eliminate fossil fuel reliance and, combined with improved daylighting and spatial zoning, bring the operational carbon down by 68%.

The rear extension is a built example of circular thinking in residential design. Constructed entirely from the U-Build system, it is intended for future disassembly and reuse. This strategy keeps embodied carbon low and aligns with the London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI) targets for sustainable building. The self-build process also played a meaningful role in the project’s outcome. By taking part in the construction, the family gained a deeper sense of ownership while embedding adaptability into the home’s long-term lifecycle.

cork cladding and spruce plywood bring warmth and texture to the extension

‘The design was driven by the client’s desire to live in a functional, comfortable and uplifting home, while responding to the context and climate challenges of our moment,’ Studio Bark Director Tom Bennett says. ‘At Meadow Road, the generosity of the existing Victorian house is combined with modern construction techniques and technologies, breathing a new lease of life into this building.‘

the family built the extension themselves using Studio Bark’s U-build system

original architectural details were preserved and contrasted with natural materials

reupholstered furniture and salvaged elements reflect a resourceful design ethos

natural insulation materials improve breathability and thermal performance

the modular extension is designed for disassembly and future reuse

project info:

name: Meadow House

architect: Studio Bark | @studiobark

location: Tunbridge Wells, England

photography: © Jim Stephenson | @clickclickjim

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Cathedral of Sound is a large-scale, wind-powered sound sculpture developed by Liam Hopkins of Lazerian as part of Manchester’s Music for the Senses art trail. Initially installed in St. Peter’s Square before being relocated to Mayfield, the work brings together sound, structure, and public participation through the reuse of musical instruments. The installation is constructed from hundreds of acoustic and electric guitars donated by residents of Manchester. These instruments, ranging from vintage to damaged and disused, are integrated into the sculpture’s framework to form a layered, architectural structure. The design draws from the logic of masonry, with guitars arranged similarly to bricks, creating a cohesive surface that reflects the varied musical history and community contributions of the city.

A steel internal framework provides structural integrity, supporting both the dense configuration of guitars and a kinetic wind-responsive system. This system includes a sculptural flag mounted at the top of the installation, which captures wind energy. As wind passes through the structure, it activates a mechanical interface that interacts with the guitars, generating acoustic sound. The movement of the flag influences tonal qualities such as pitch and rhythm, allowing the sculpture to change sonically in response to weather conditions.

all images courtesy of Lazerian

Designed by Liam Hopkins of Lazerian for Music for the Senses

The production of Cathedral of Sound involved both traditional fabrication methods and iterative design processes to accommodate the unique form and material variability of the donated instruments. The project by multidisciplinary creative studio Lazerian emphasizes material reuse, transforming objects originally designed for individual use into a collective, site-specific installation. Public participation played a central role in the development of the work through the Guitar Amnesty initiative, which invited residents to donate unused or broken guitars. Instruments in working condition were redirected to local grassroots musicians, extending the project’s engagement beyond the sculptural installation itself.

Functioning as both a sonic object and a public artwork, Cathedral of Sound offers an evolving auditory and spatial experience. Its design reflects a convergence of environmental interaction, structural reuse, and civic collaboration, contributing to Manchester’s urban landscape and cultural narrative through form, sound, and community-driven design.

a wind-powered sculpture built from donated guitars in Manchester

Cathedral of Sound combines sound, structure, and community engagement

hundreds of acoustic and electric guitars form the skin of the sculpture

each instrument reflects a personal story, forming part of a shared structure

a large flag atop the sculpture captures wind and influences the sound

the guitars are arranged like bricks, echoing traditional masonry techniques

a steel frame supports the densely layered outer shell of guitars

wind movement activates a system that allows the sculpture to play music

designed by Liam Hopkins of Lazerian for Music for the Senses

the sculpture turns disused instruments into an evolving public artwork

an installation that listens and responds to its environment

project info:

name: Cathedral of Sound

designer: Lazerian | @lazerian_studio

lead designer: Liam Hopkins 

client: Music For the Senses

location: Manchester, UK

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom

The post wind-powered sculpture turns donated guitars into sonic art installation in manchester appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.