A new sculptural coffee house opens to the public in London??s Hyde Park. Designed by award-winning Mizzi Studio, the semi-transparent pavilion??s structure is built using state-of-the-art technology.
It takes inspiration from the vernacularof the ancient Japanese tea house and is defined by an undulating canopy, echoing a stingray??s flight through water. The building forms part of a wider commission for Mizzi Studio to transform ten prestigious sites across London??s Royal Parks, with individually crafted, free-standing architectural structures, in partnership with artisan Italian café operators, Colicci.
Located between the Serpentine Galleries, with views across the Serpentine Lake and out towards the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, the new Serpentine Coffee House is designed to form an integral part of a journey through the parks. The open, semi-transparent glass pavilion creates a lightness that helps the building to integrate seamlessly into the landscape. Its undulating canopy, designed to respond to the movement of the lake, has been hand-painted using specialist techniques to give an aged-brass finish, and is intricately textured on the underside with snakeskin-inspired, coffer-like dimples.
Tapered towards its edges, it cantilevers over the glass structure below to create extensive open-air seating, with capacity for 60 people to sit under and around it. The colour palette of the interior is carefully curated for mindful consumption and to blur the boundaries between the indoor and outdoor.
Following the opening of the Serpentine Coffee House, the transformation of the final three sites will be completed later in the autumn, including the flagship brass Horseshoe kiosk in St James??s Park, with Buckingham Palace as its backdrop, and two steam-bent oak structures in St James??s Park and Hyde Park.
