Thorn and Zumtobel bring the design community together after dark at Serpentine Pavilion

  Posted by: user_amy      22nd September 2026

Thorn and Zumtobel welcomed 190 clients from across the UK’s lighting and built-environment community to a private evening at Serpentine Pavilion 2026, giving guests the opportunity to experience LANZA atelier’s a serpentine after dark and hear first-hand about the thinking behind its architecture and lighting design.

Representing 94 companies, guests included representatives from the Austrian embassy, architects, lighting and interior designers, consulting engineers, local authorities and end users, who gathered at the Pavilion in London’s Kensington Gardens on 10 September.

Architecture and light in conversation

Designed by Mexican architecture studio LANZA atelier, founded by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo, a serpentine is the first Serpentine Pavilion to be built of brick.

Inspired by the traditional English crinkle-crankle wall, the Pavilion explores movement, permeability and collective experience through a curved brick wall and a grove of columns that guide visitors through the space. The design creates moments of pause and discovery, with views opening onto the surrounding gardens as visitors move between light and shadow.

That relationship between architecture and light was brought to the fore during the private evening by guest speakers Arianna Foltran, Senior Lighting Designer at AECOM, and Tamsin Hong, Exhibitions Curator at Serpentine. The pair shared the architects’ vision and the thought process and collaborative approach behind the lighting design for this year’s Pavilion.

Arianna Foltran, explains: “The vision for this year’s Serpentine Pavilion lighting design was to awaken the roof at night, transforming it into a luminous canopy with rhythmic lines of light. These linear lights mimic the gentle descent of sunbeams filtering through the architectural shading fins. In close collaboration with LANZA’s vision, we have crafted a delicate detail to bring this quiet magic to life”

Following the presentations, guests were able to explore the Pavilion at their leisure as evening fell, experiencing for themselves how the lighting responds to its distinctive brick architecture and translucent roof.

John Lyons, Director of Zumtobel Group UK & Ireland, commented:

“There is something uniquely powerful about experiencing a lighting design in the space for which it was created. As daylight faded, our guests could see how the lighting gradually changes the character of the Pavilion, revealing its materials, curves and architectural details without overpowering them.

“Having Arianna and Tamsin there to explain the thinking and collaboration behind the design made that experience even more valuable. Bringing together so many people from across lighting, architecture and the wider built environment created exactly the kind of conversation and exchange of ideas that the Serpentine Pavilion is intended to inspire.”

Revealing the Pavilion after dark

The lighting for a serpentine was deliberately designed to work and enhance the architecture.

A total of 176.6 metres of Thorn Mystrid Flex has been integrated within the Pavilion’s translucent roof structure. At 2700K, the continuous linear lighting creates a warm layer of illumination that reveals the texture and rhythm of the brick forms below while maintaining the lightness of the roof.

Thorn Caelon provides discreet lighting for emergency and the café-bar area, while four Cesar Stroll bollards, also at 2700K, support wayfinding around the exterior.

The approach allows the Pavilion to move naturally from day into night. During daylight hours, natural light, shadow and the translucent roof shape the visitor experience. As darkness falls, the artificial lighting takes over subtly, keeping the Pavilion welcoming and legible while revealing its depth and material character.

A place for encounter and exchange

For Thorn and Zumtobel, the evening also celebrated a long-standing relationship with Serpentine in a landmark year for the annual commission. 2026 marks the 25th Serpentine Pavilion and the seventh Pavilion supported by Thorn and Zumtobel.

Isabel Zumtobel, Head of Arts & Culture, Zumtobel Group, said:

“The Serpentine Pavilion has always been about more than architecture alone. It creates a temporary place where people can meet, exchange ideas and experience something together. This year’s Pavilion expresses that particularly beautifully through its flowing brick forms and the way light changes the space throughout the day.

“Our private evening brought that idea to life in a very natural way. Seeing the Pavilion filled with people from across the design community, and then watching the architecture take on another character as darkness fell, was a wonderful demonstration of how architecture and light can create opportunities for connection.”

The evening combined presentations and discussion with an opportunity for guests to explore the Pavilion, network and experience the installation after dark. Mexican food and live music from Los Amigos also provided a nod to the heritage of LANZA atelier.

Serpentine Pavilion 2026 remains open in Kensington Gardens until 25 October 2026.

To read more about this year’s Serpentine Pavilion visit: https://www.zumtobel.co.uk/en-gb/news-events/serpentine-pavilion-2026

For more information about the respective products, please visit www.thornlighting.co.uk or www.zumtobel.co.uk