[ Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 3/13/2009 ]
If summer showers dampen your trip to London’s Serpentine Gallery this July, SANAA principals Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa promise shelter from the storm –- the debut of a new temporary pavilion on the gallery’s lawn that will also be the firm’s first built structure in the U.K.
Set to serve as a café and venue for public events through October, SANAA’s commission represents the ninth edition of the annual Serpentine Gallery Pavilion series. Up to 250,000 visitors typically visit the structures, which are always designed by a firm that has no built projects in the country. Time is also of the essence, as the selected practice has just six months to conceive and plan the project prior to groundbreaking.
Construction of the pavilion is funded in part by business airline operator NetJets Europe, now in its second year as lead sponsor of the series. Advisors to the project include Mutsuro Sasaki's structural design and engineering firm SAPS, and consulting engineer and project manager Arup.

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