Serpentine pavilion 2011 by Peter Zumthor – in pictures

Now in its 11th year, the annual Serpentine pavilion is a highlight of the summer's cultural calendar. This year architect Peter Zumthor offers up a tranquil courtyard garden wrapped inside a structure of intensely black wood
Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

The pavilion is constructed from black-stained timber, and sits low-slung below the tree line of the Serpentine lawn in Hyde Park Photograph: Rex Features/Ray Tang

Focusing on the sensory aspects of architecture, Zumthor's pavilion is the first to incorporate a garden. The building wraps around a central void, ushering visitors inside to find a sanctuary of enclosed greenery – a 'hortus conclusus'
Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

Inside the pavilion, an uplifting feast of green is open to the sky. Zumthor says: 'Every time I imagine a garden in an architectural setting, it turns into a magical place'
Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

Doorways provide playful routes into the dramatically tall and narrow corridors, then out again into the light-filled core
Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

Swiss architect Peter Zumthor in one of the pavilion's corridors
Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian