Gerry Ebner

To Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, enclosing nature is often the best way to preserve it. In his design for this year’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, Zumthor takes nature under a protective wing to create a sanctuary as devoted to the greenery it houses as to its visitors. The nearly 4,333-square-foot structure incorporates 2,800 square feet of garden space surrounded by walkways, benches, and a timber frame covering all but the ceiling immediately above the garden. Left open to the sky, the structure stays true to his vision of a hortus conclusus, or a garden within a garden, a garden connected to nature. • Through Oct. 16. • serpentinegallery.org

For more details and images of the 2013 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, visit ARCHITECT's Project Gallery.