Following a slew of unsettling and transformative happenings in Bangladesh during the past year, the country continues to remain in a state of calm flux, albeit not without cautious optimism. Pointedly witness to the shifting river courses—and consequently, changing rural and urban morphologies—of the Bengal Delta upon which the South Asian country rests, Bangladesh is known to have experienced extended periods of instability followed by political and social upheavals, power shifts and consecutive transformation and reconstruction. Whether by inhabiting a fluvial land with erratic environmental shifts or witnessing the volatility of socio-political regimes, the cultural output of the country is richly writ with an eccentric flavour that is contextually rooted and does not eschew dissent.

It is this grounding and rootedness that is explicitly visible in Bangladeshi architect and educator Marina Tabassum’s work. Known for her context-sensitive architectural projects wherein vernacular traditions, elements and processes meld with temporally and functionally relevant features, Tabassum, at the helm of her eponymous architectural practice Marina Tabassum Architects, has been selected to design the 25th edition of the coveted Serpentine Pavilion. Titled A Capsule in Time, the pavilion design, conceived by Tabassum and supported by Goldman Sachs, will finally be unveiled to the public in Kensington Gardens to the south of the Serpentine Gallery in London, UK on June 6, 2025, remaining on view until October 26, 2025.

Known for commissioning some of the most significant names from the architectural industry, the Serpentine Pavilion has, over the years, evolved into a participatory public and artistic platform for the gallery’s interdisciplinary, community and educational programmes. Tabassum's Serpentine Pavilion 2025, too, will platform the famed Park Nights, an informal platform for live encounters in music, film, theatre, dance, literature, philosophy, fashion and technology.

Backtracking to the exploration of territorial impact on works of art, design and architecture, one notes that Tabassum’s work is exceedingly informed by and cognizant of 'place' and its most present, relevant issues. Tabassum and her practice are remarked for bringing together culturally and functionally pertinent elements in their projects in ways that engage with the climate, context, culture and history of the place; working on designs that bear social, political and ecological relevance; researching environmental degradation within the country; and finally, focusing on architecture’s role in addressing living conditions for marginalised individuals in the region to uplift local communities - often collaborators on Tabassum's projects.

Tabassum’s Serpentine Pavilion will rest on an elongated site extending along the north-south axis, featuring a central court that aligns with Serpentine South’s bell tower. “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 relationship between time and architecture is intriguing: between permanence and impermanence, of birth, age and ruin; architecture aspires to outlive time. Architecture is a tool to leave behind legacies, fulfilling the inherent human desire for continuity beyond life,” Tabassum shares.

The sculpturally conceived pavilion architecture by Tabassum will feature a capsule form—interestingly referred to by Tabassum as "archaic"—broken in four volumes conceived in timber, and clad in a translucent material that diffuses and dapples light into the space, meant to emulate the experience of being "under a shamiyana at a Bengali wedding". Elucidating upon the inspiration behind the design, Tabassum shares, “In the Bengal Delta, architecture is ephemeral as dwellings change locations with the rivers shifting courses. Architecture becomes memories of the lived spaces continued through tales.”

Architecture aspires to outlive time. Architecture is a tool to leave behind legacies, fulfilling the inherent human desire for continuity beyond life. – Marina Tabassum

In a joint official statement, Bettina Korek, Chief Executive of Serpentine Galleries and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of Serpentine Galleries, 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, Tabassum’s design will bring the park inside the Pavilion.”

Evocative of the impermanence of land and its constant shifting within the Bengal Delta, Tabassum’s design for the pavilion comprises a kinetic element such that one of the capsule volumes is movable, opening up the possibility of utilising this space for myriad utilities. “Its kinetic dimension will also harken back to the levitating element of Rem Koolhaas & Cecil Balmond with Arup’s Serpentine Pavilion 2006,” Korek and Obrist further add. Redolent of both, the familiar dance of light beams within shamiyana tents and Tabassum’s characteristic conception of built forms that prompt an interplay of light and shadow, A Capsule in Time and its design seek to ensure a lasting openness and transience through material morphologies and shifting sciographies.