Sir Peter Cook on designing the Serpentine's Play Pavilion
“Form, freedom and exuberance,” was Sir Peter Cook’s vision for the Play Pavilion, which is now proudly sitting not far from the Marina Tabussum-designed main Pavilion designed outside Serpentine South.
A collaboration between The LEGO Group and Serpentine, it is a glorious ode to the spirit of play - and to say it is catnip to children is something of an understatement.
Unveiled this week on World Play Day, it will remain at the Serpentine until 10 August, and will feature a host of programming, and LEGO-based fun. The impressive LEGO brick-built space will host a number of free, hands-on workshops with music curated by NTS Radio, and pre-bookable sessions from talent including Martine Rose, Niko B, Iglooghost and more, spotlighting the boundless potential of creative play.
School and community programming will also provide an inclusive platform for young Londoners to share their ideas for the city’s creative future. From build challenges and fashion labs to nature walks and sports days the Play Pavilion will offer over nine weeks of free, dynamic creative sessions for children aged 12+ , and adults too of course.
Cook says he went about creating a world that children would love, “By avoiding all the prejudices (including your own) that architects like to prey upon.”
He posed himself a question and then supplied the answers: “How to express joy, playfulness, cheerfulness, exuberance, and a little bit of irreverence?
To use much brighter and purer colours than in a regular building. To make the enclosure free and ‘wavy’ and liable to burst out into strange shapes and irreverence. To eschew the discipline of ‘windows’ or of totally functional features. To invite play - crawling in, sliding out, adding-on (by way of the LEGO interior with lots of baseboard just waiting to be built upon.”
Children will delight in the slide, the crawl holes and the towers, and really that is what it is all about. As Cook puts it: “Children are the clients.”
Bettina Korek, Chief Executive, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, said: “We are thrilled to be collaborating with the LEGO Group, The Royal Parks, and CONSUL to realise the vision for play we all share with Peter Cook and to enter a new and exciting phase of a community-focused programme. By partnering with the LEGO Group, we are looking forward to bringing their vibrant sense of playfulness and creativity to Serpentine audiences.
Zaha Hadid long envisioned a collaboration between Serpentine and Peter Cook, whose radical design philosophy perfectly aligns with her belief that ‘there should be no end to experimentation’. Now, that vision is becoming a reality, and we are all grateful to Peter for accepting the invitation. Hadid’s legacy will be fittingly honoured through this project, which reflects her pioneering spirit and relentless pursuit of innovation.”
For more information on the Play Pavilion and its programme visit: https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/play-pavilion-programme-2025/
