A "Crinkle Crankle" wall. A Ribbon wall. A Sinusoidal wall. A dear child has many names, as the Swedish saying goes.

But regardless of what you call it, the Serpentine Wall presents one of architecture’s greatest geometric paradoxes: How can a longer wall require fewer bricks?

In this deep dive, we look at the structural logic behind the curve, why Thomas Jefferson loved it, and why contemporary architects like LANZA Atelier are bringing it back for 2026.

The Mechanics: Defying the Straight Line

A diagram of a crinkle crankle/Serpentine wall, created with AI and fact checked.

At first glance, a wavy wall looks like a purely aesthetic choice; a decorative flourish for English gardens. In reality, it is a triumph of engineering over mass.

The Problem with Straight Walls: A standard straight brick wall has very little lateral stability. If you build it too high without making it thick (two or three bricks deep) or adding buttresses (pillars), the wind will simply blow it over.

The Serpentine Solution: By curving the wall, you introduce an "effective thickness." The arch action gives the wall a wider footprint, resisting lateral forces (like wind) without actually making the wall thicker.¹

The Result: You can build a wall that is only one brick thick (a single wythe) that stands just as tall as a double-thick straight wall.
The Math: Even though the snake-like path is longer than a straight line, the reduction in brick layers (from two to one) typically yields a 20-25% saving in total bricks.

Thomas Jefferson designed the serpentine walls at the University of Virginia to be only one layer thick. To make this work, the wall had to be wavy instead of straight It's unclear where the first design rules for serpentine walls came from, but simple guidelines have been used for a long time.

A History Written in Waves

The recently discovered 3000 year old city “The Rise of Aten”, Egypt. Chabe01, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

While we associate these walls with the picturesque gardens of Suffolk, England, or Thomas Jefferson’s University of Virginia, the technology is ancient.

Ancient Egypt (1300s BCE): In 2020, archaeologists uncovering the "Lost Golden City" of Luxor (The Rise of Aten) found serpentine mudbrick walls². For ancient builders, this was a practical way to stiffen flimsy mud bricks³.
The Dutch Connection (1600s): Dutch engineers, masters of building on unstable soil, likely brought the technique to East Anglia while draining the Fens. The curve provided stability in shifting, wet ground⁴.
The American Pragmatist: Thomas Jefferson famously used serpentine walls at the University of Virginia not just for beauty, but because he was on a budget. He calculated the exact brick savings to justify the aesthetic⁵.

Why Don't We Build Everything Like This?

If it saves material and looks beautiful, why is the straight wall still the standard?

Land Use: A straight wall defines a crisp property line. A serpentine wall "wastes" land in its concave pockets. In dense cities, giving up that meter of depth is expensive.
Labor Costs: While you save on material, you pay in labor. Laying a curve requires a skilled mason to ensure the geometry remains consistent. In the modern era, bricks are cheap; labor is expensive.
Bespoke goods: These walls do not comply with standard rectangular fences and furniture, meaning that getting a coherent harmonious design concept could prove more expensive.
Integration: Try hanging a shelf on a curved wall. Or fitting a rectangular sofa against it. The "Crinkle Crankle" creates awkward residual spaces that can be a nightmare for interior furnishing.

The Masters of the Curve

Despite the drawbacks, the serpentine form remains a "Holy Grail" for architects who want to merge structure and skin.

Church of Christ the Worker, Uruguay

Andrés Franchi Ugart…, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Eladio Dieste (The Engineer) In Uruguay, Dieste took the concept to the extreme. His Church of Christ the Worker, Uruguay (1958) uses undulating walls not just for walls, but to support the roof. He proved that brick, a heavy, compressive material, could look as light as fabric if the geometry was perfect⁶.

Gonzalo 96, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

St. Mark's Church, Sweden

Marcus Church. By Holger.Ellgaard - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, no changes were made. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3967404

Sigurd Lewerentz (The Brutalist) In Sweden, Lewerentz used a similar curve at St. Mark's Church (Markuskyrkan). Built on an old lakebed, the undulating walls helped stabilize the structure on soft ground, while creating an acoustic and visual softness that straight brutalism often lacks. Since 1990 its been designated a cultural monument by the Swedish National Heritage Board⁷.

The Comeback

The selection of LANZA Atelier for the 2026 Serpentine Pavilion (fittingly) proves this isn't dead history⁸.

We are moving into an era where material cost (specifically carbon cost) is becoming as important as labor cost. If a curved wall saves 25% of the embodied carbon of the bricks, the extra time it takes to lay them becomes a worthy trade-off.

The "Serpentine" wall is a reminder that sometimes, the most efficient path forward isn't a straight line.