London-based Serpentine Galleries are branching out to China and will be opening the inaugural Serpentine Pavilion Beijing this May.

Announced as a collaboration with WF CENTRAL from Beijing, the new pavilion will be designed by JIAKUN Architects in the city's historic Dongcheng District, only a stones-throw away from the iconic Forbidden City.

According to the architects, the pavilion design takes inspiration from Confucianism, having the architecture act as a physical representation of the traditional pursuit of Junzi: "The design is characterized by the figure of the Archer, in the form of a curved cantilever beam that incorporates the forces of elasticity through cables stretched between steel plates. Although modern architecture in Beijing has developed a series of powerful techniques to fight the external forces of fierce winds and unpredictable earthquakes, the Pavilion's integral structure aims — like the Tai Chi Master — to conquer the harshness of those forces with softness."

JAIKUN Architects' design was chosen by an eight-member committee, including artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine Galleries CEO Yana Peel, and architect David Adjaye among others.

Initiated in 2000, the annual London Serpentine Pavilion commissions have showcased temporary structures designed by the biggest names in the craft, such as Frank Gehry, SANAA, Jean Nouvel, Peter Zumthor, Herzog & de Meuron with Ai Weiwei and more recently Sou Fujimoto, Smiljan Radic, SelgasCano, Bjarke Ingels, and Diébédo Francis Kéré.