Kensington Garden's Magazine Building, via Flickr

By Mackie Healy, Art Market Views Contributor

London’s Serpentine Gallery is expanding, thanks to U.S. pharma bucks.

The Serpentine is opening a new gallery in Kensington Gardens park, renovating a 19th century former munitions depot. The new venue will be named the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, thanks to a donation from The Dr Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation.

The building will be renovated by architect Zaha Hadid. Plans include an adjacent pavilion for a restaurant and “social space.” It will include over 880 square meters of gallery and lounge, around the same size as the current location nearby in Hyde Park.

Though the amount of the Sackler donation was not revealed, Serpentine officials describe the gift as the largest donation in its 40-year history. Dr. Sackler, an arts patron, made his fortune in pharmaceuticals. He passed away in April of this year at the age of 93.

Serpentine directors Julia Peyton-Jones and Hans Ulrich Obrist will oversee the extension. The space will display work by lesser-known artists and architects, commissioned to create annual large-scale light installations inside the building and play spaces for children and families outside of it.

The Royal Parks, the government department responsible for overseeing the building, first invited proposals for its use in August 2009.

The gallery is slated to open to the public free of charge in time for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.