An exhibition of abstract paintings and drawings by late architect Zaha Hadid is to be hosted at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery in London. 

Calligraphy and sketches from the architect's notebooks will be included in the show, which opens on 8 December and brings together work that dates back to the 1970s.

The focus of the Zaha Hadid Early Paintings and Drawings exhibition will be on pieces created by the architect before she completed her first building – the Vitra Fire Station in 1993.

Hadid often used calligraphic sketches to visualise ideas and spaces, sometimes using paintings as precursors to buildings. Pieces in the exhibition include concept designs and canvases made up of colourful, geometric shapes.

Hadid, who had a long-lasting interest in "abstraction and explosion", was particularly drawn to the work of Russian painter Kazimir Malevich.

"He was an early influence for me as a representative of the modern avant-garde intersection between art and design," said Hadid, who died earlier this year following a sudden heart attack.

"It was Zaha Hadid who went first and furthest in exploring this way of innovating in architecture – without as well as with, the support of advanced software," added Zaha Hadid Architects director Patrik Schumacher.

The exhibition was first conceived in partnership with Hadid, who renovated and extended the gallery in 2013. Her 2007 Serpentine pavilion, which features a trio of toadstool-like structures, was put up for sale earlier in the year.

"Her contribution to architecture as a pioneer and visionary cannot be overstated, and her declaration that 'there should be no end to experimentation' has become a mantra for the Serpentine Galleries as it looks to the future," said gallery director Hans Ulrich Obrist.

Early Paintings and Drawings opens on 8 December, and will continue until 12 February 2017.