Serpentine Summer Houses 2016 unveiled

Asif Khan (born 1979, London) founded his architecture practice in 2007. The studio works internationally on projects ranging from cultural buildings to houses, temporary pavilions, exhibitions and installations. Notable projects include the MegaFaces pavilion at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, the Coca-Cola Beatbox Pavilion at the London 2012 Olympics, and most recently he was a finalist in the competition for the Helsinki Guggenheim Museum and the British Pavilion at Milan Expo 2015.

He is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Red Dot award for Design, Cannes Lion Grand Prix for Innovation, a D&AD award, a Special citation in the Young Architect Programme 2011 MAXXI + MoMA/PS1, Design Miami Designer of the Future in 2011 and Design Museum Designer in Residence 2010. Khan lectures globally on his work, sits on the board of Trustees of the Design Museum and teaches MA Architecture at the Royal College of Art.

Khan was awarded an MBE for Services to Architecture in 2017 and currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Design Museum in London. His carbon fibre portals for Dubai Expo 2020 were nominated for the Aga Khan Award in 2023. Current projects include the Barbican Art Centre Renewal, the New London Museum, the Museum of the Incense Road in Al-Ula, the Tselinny Centre for Contemporary Culture in Almaty, and "Cartier" at the V&A in 2025.

He has collaborated with musicians and artists such as Brian Eno, Theaster Gates, Mark Ronson and scientists such as Di. Catherine Heymans. 

Khan's works have been exhibited at Sharjah Architecture Triennale, V&A Dundee, MAAT Lisbon, Royal Academy of Arts, Milan Salone, Milan Triennale, London Design Week, and Tokyo Design Week. He will participate as an artist in the Islamic Art Biennale in Jeddah, in 2025.

Kunlé Adeyemi (born 7 April 1976) is a Nigerian architect, urbanist and creative researcher. His recent work includes 'Makoko Floating School', an innovative, prototype, floating structure located on the lagoon heart of Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos. This acclaimed project is part of an extensive research project - 'African Water Cities' - being developed by NLÉ, an architecture, design and urbanism practice founded by Adeyemi in 2010 with a focus on developing cities and communities.

NLÉ is currently developing a number of urban, research and architectural projects, including Rock - Chicago Lakefront Kiosk; Chicoco Radio Media Centre; Port Harcourt and Black Rhino Academy in Tanzania.

Born and raised in Nigeria, Adeyemi studied architecture at the University of Lagos where he began his early practice, before joining Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in 2002. At OMA he led the design, development and execution of several large prestigious projects around the world. Adeyemi is a juror for RIBA’s 2016 International Prize and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University, New York.

Barkow Leibinger’s work is realized over a wide range of scales and building types including building for workplace (industry, office, and master-planning), cultural, housing, event spaces, exhibitions and installations in the public realm internationally. Important milestones are amongst others the Biosphere in Potsdam, Germany, the Customer and Administration Building , the Gate House and the Campus Restaurant in Ditzingen, Germany and the Trutec Building in Seoul. Recently completed buildings include the Tour Total office high-rise in Berlin and an apartment and hotel complex in passive house standard in Freiburg, Germany.

Their work has been shown at the Architecture Biennale Venice 2008 and 2014, at the Marrakech Biennale 2012 and is included in the permanent collections of MoMA, New York, and the Deutsches Architektur Museum, Frankfurt. Barkow Leibinger have won three National AIA Honor Awards for Architecture and the prestigious Marcus Prize for Architecture, Milwaukee, recognizing emerging talent in the field for design excellence and innovation, as well a Global Holcim Innovation Award for sustainability.

Frank Barkow. Born in Kansas City, USA, 1957. Bachelor of Architecture, Montana State University, 1982. Master of Architecture, Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, 1990. Visiting Critic, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York and Rome, 1990. Unit Master, Architectural Association, London, 1995-98. The Arthur Gensler Visiting Professor of Architecture Cornell University, Ithaca, 2003. Cass Gilbert Visiting Professor, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 2004. Visiting Professor, State Academy of Art and Design, Stuttgart, Germany, 2005-06. Visiting Professor, Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, USA, 2008, 04, 00. Visiting Professor, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, School of Architecture & Urban Planning, USA, 2008. Visiting Professor, EPFL Écoles Polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, 2010. Barkow Leibinger, Berlin, Germany, Since 1993.

Regine Leibinger. Born in Stuttgart, Germany, 1963. Diploma, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany, 1989. Master of Architecture, Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, USA, 1991. Assistant Professor, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany, 1993–97. Unit Master, Architectural Association, London, England, 1997–98. Guest Professor, Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Hamburg, Germany, 1999–2000. Visiting Professor, Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, USA, 2000, 04. Professor for Building Construction and Design, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany Since 2006. Member of the ’Visiting Committees’, MIT Department of Architecture, Cambridge, USA, Since 2011. Barkow Leibinger Architects, Berlin, Germany, Since 1993.

Yona Friedman was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1923, and pass away Paris, France, February 21, 2020. He studied at the Technical University in Budapest (Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem) and in Haifa. His work has spanned areas ranging from architecture, art and animated film to education and writing. He has participated in numerous art biennials including Shanghai, Venice and Documenta 11. His highly visionary ideas have nurtured various generations of architects and urbanists, influencing groups such as Archigram and even Kenzo Tange, who declared as such in 1970 in Osaka.

In 1956 he published L'architecture mobile, his manifesto which conceived of an urban structure on piles, appropriate for spaces where building is not possible or permitted. This also became the foundational document of the GEAM, Groupe d'étude d'architecture mobile. He created urban concepts such as the Spatial City, based on the free organisation of a city by citizens using low-cost mobile and reusable modules. In 1965 he founded, together with Ionel Schein, Walter Jonas and others, the GIAP, Groupe International d'Architecture Prospective.

From the 1960’s he also became interested in animated film making which would lead him to propose a series of do-it-yourself construction manuals with simple pictograms addressing basic questions, which we could summarise under the title L´habitat c’est mon affaire. Comment habiter la terre (Habitat is my business: how to inhabit the earth). These were edited by the United Nations and given broad distribution in India, South America and Africa.