The semi-transparent pavilion will occupy 350 square-metres of lawn outside the London gallery. Two entrances will lead inside the structure, where staggered terraces will provide seating for a central cafe.

Sou Fujimoto describes his design as "an architectural landscape" where "the vivid greenery of the surrounding plant life [is] woven together with a constructed geometry".

"The delicate quality of the structure, enhanced by its semi-transparency, will create a geometric, cloud-like form, as if it were mist rising from the undulations of the park," said Fujimoto. "From certain vantage points, the pavilion will appear to merge with the classical structure of the Serpentine Gallery, with visitors suspended in space."

The temporary pavilion will open to the public on 8 June and will remain in Kensington Gardens until 20 October.

Sou Fujimoto is the third Japanese architect to accept the annual unpaid commission, which is one of the most highly sought-after small projects in world architecture and goes to a major architect who hasn't yet built in the UK. Toyo Ito designed the pavilion in 2002, while SANAA followed in 2009. Past projects by Sou Fujimoto include a house that has hardly any walls, another with three layers of windows and a library with shelves on the exterior.

Last year's pavilion was a cork-lined archaeological dig created by Herzog & de Meuron with Ai Weiwei, who was forbidden to leave China at the time. Dezeen filmed interviews with Herzog & de Meuron at the opening, where Jacques Herzog told us how they sidestepped the regulations to be allowed to participate and Pierre de Meuron explained how cork was used to appeal to "all the senses, not just your eyes". Before that it was a walled garden by Peter Zumthor, who told us at the opening in 2011: "I’m a passionate architect... I do not work for money". Watch that movie here.

Other past commissions include Jean Nouvel and Frank Gehry - see our handy guide to all the Serpentine Gallery Pavilions here.

See all our stories about the Serpentine Gallery Pavilions »
See more architecture by Sou Fujimoto »

Images are by Studio Cyrille Thomas.

Here's the full statement from Sou Fujimoto:

For the 2013 Pavilion I propose an architectural landscape: a transparent terrain that encourages people to interact with and explore the site in diverse ways. Within the pastoral context of Kensington Gardens, I envisage the vivid greenery of the surrounding plant life woven together with a constructed geometry. A new form of environment will be created, where the natural and the man-made merge; not solely architectural nor solely natural, but a unique meeting of the two.

The Pavilion will be a delicate, three-dimensional structure, each unit of which will be composed of fine steel bars. It will form a semi-transparent, irregular ring, simultaneously protecting visitors from the elements while allowing them to remain part of the landscape. The overall footprint will be 350 square-metres and the Pavilion will have two entrances. A series of stepped terraces will provide seating areas that will allow the Pavilion to be used as a flexible, multi-purpose social space.

The delicate quality of the structure, enhanced by its semi-transparency, will create a geometric, cloud-like form, as if it were mist rising from the undulations of the park. From certain vantage points, the Pavilion will appear to merge with the classical structure of the Serpentine Gallery, with visitors suspended in space.

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Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2013 appeared first on Dezeen.

The architects teamed up with artist Ai Weiwei on the project and De Meuron explains how they worked around the problem that Weiwei isn't permitted to leave China before admitting that the protective acoustics of the space were a stroke of luck, since they weren't able to test them beforehand.

On the same day, Jacques Herzog also gave us an exclusive, impromptu tour of the pavilion, which you can watch below or view at a larger size here.

The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion closes next weekend with a series of talks and discussions by the architects and a host of other speakers, and Dezeen readers are in with a chance of winning tickets to attend. Find out more here »

See photos of the pavilion and read more about it in our earlier story »

See the initial designs for the pavilion » 
See all our stories about the annual Serpentine Gallery Pavilions »
See all our stories about Herzog & de Meuron »
See all our stories about Ai Weiwei »

The post "Architecture is a discipline that speaks
to all your senses" - Pierre de Meuron appeared first on Dezeen.

Competition: we're giving readers a chance to win one of two pairs of tickets to the Memory Marathon, a series of talks and discussions taking place from 12 to 14 October close to the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion (above) in London's Kensington Gardens.

Congratulations to the winners! Karishma Rafferty and Megan Courtis, both from the UK, won tickets for the Memory Marathon.

Above: image is by John Offenbach
Top: image is by Iwan Baan

The event is the seventh ideas exchange inspired by the annual Pavilion commission and coincides with the Frieze Art Fair in London.

Above: temporary spaces that will host the event.

Tickets will cover the three sessions taking place each day that will feature leading artists and design professionals in a continuous programme of performances, screenings, discussions and experiments.

Above: image is by Marco Grob

Participants will include the designers of the Pavilion Jacques Herzog and Pierre De Meuron (above), director David Lynch and artists Gilbert & George (below).

Above: image is by Mark Blower

The launch on Friday 12 October will feature a performance by sound artist Tarek Atoui.

Above: image is by Iwan Baan

The event will take place at the following times:

Friday 12 October (6pm – 11pm)
Saturday 13 October (12 noon – 10pm)
Sunday 14 October (11am – 9pm)

Above: image is by Luke Hayes

For more information about the event visit the Serpentine Gallery website.

Above: image is by Iwan Baan

This competition is now closed.

Above: image is by Iwan Baan

Two winners will be selected at random and notified by email. Winners’ names will be published in a future edition of our Dezeenmail newsletter and at the top of this page. Dezeen competitions are international and entries are accepted from readers in any country.

Read more about this year's pavilion in our story here and watch a movie of our exclusive tour of the pavilion with Jacques Herzog here.

The post Competition: tickets for the Memory Marathon
at the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion to be won appeared first on Dezeen.

Speaking at the opening of his Serpentine Gallery Pavilion (pictured) in London, Zumthor said, "I do not work for money; I'm not going for commercial projects. I go for projects where I can put my heart into it and which I think are worthwhile."

He also told us how he started out in his father's cabinet-making workshop, went to art school and "slowly, slowly" became an architect. "Now maybe soon I’ll become a landscape architect too," he added. The pavilion featured a black walled garden framing a strip of wild planting by Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf.

Zumthor, who was also awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2009, will be presented with the Royal Gold Medal for architecture in a ceremony at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London on 6 February 2013. Read more here. See all our stories about Peter Zumthor here.

Read more about the pavilion in our earlier story and see more photos here and here.

Photos are by Hufton + Crow.

The post "I’m a passionate architect... I do not work
for money" - Peter Zumthor appeared first on Dezeen.

Read more about the pavilion in our earlier story and watch Jacques Herzog give an exclusive tour of the pavilion at last week's private view here.

See all our stories about the annual Serpentine Gallery Pavilions »

The post Slideshow: Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012
by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei appeared first on Dezeen.