The annual spectacular of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion has seen the most prestigious of architects create indulgent works to stand in the grounds of the Serpentine Gallery for three months only. Last year's Frank Gehry work provided an abstract wooden canopy, while Oscar Niemeyer's 2003 design featured daring colour combined with concrete and steel. This year, architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, of the leading Japanese practice SANAA with present their first ever design in the UK.

Sejima and Nishizawa’ s pioneering buildings have created an architecture that marries aesthetic simplicity with technical complexity, defining a new architectural language, which plays with light and perception. Sought after by high-profile clients the world over, from the Louvre Museum in Lens, France, to the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, USA, SANAA’s projects are open stages, which make visible the connection between the built structure, the users and the natural environment.

Julia Peyton-Jones, Director, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Director, Serpentine Gallery, said: “It is our dream come true to be working with world-leading architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA. Their work will be a wonderful addition to the Pavilion series, the only commission of its kind worldwide that annually gives preeminent architects their debut in this country and brings the best of contemporary architecture to London for everyone to enjoy.”

There is no budget for the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion commission. It is paid for by sponsorship, sponsorship help-in-kind, and the sale of the finished structure, which does not cover more than 40% of its cost.

The Pavilion will open in July on the Serpentine Gallery’s lawn, where it will remain until October.