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Selldorf unveils revised Sainsbury Wing plan in response to critical backlash

2022-10-21T09:00:00-04:00

Selldorf Architects has released a revised plan for the controversial overhaul of the Sainsbury Wing at London’s National Gallery following a torrent of criticism that has grown online after their initial designs were unveiled this summer.

The Architects’ Journal is reporting on the revisions, which appear to have entailed the retention of certain ground floor elements in the lobby and changes to the originally proposed placement of existing structural columns, as well as to the materials used in the balustrade and lobby walls.

Image courtesy Selldorf Architects

"I don't think of these changes as a compromise. I see them as a welcome development," Annabelle Selldorf told AJ. "In the resubmitted plans, much more of the existing fabric will remain, creating a clearer dialogue with the original building. And yet the original goals remain intact."

Image courtesy Selldorf Architects

"I took from this reaction hat people truly care about the building. And when when you perceive that, you ha...

Rowan Moore issues a blow to the Selldorf-led Sainsbury Wing redevelopment

2022-06-23T09:00:00-04:00

The problem is that the proposed new work is something else altogether to Venturi and Scott Brown’s playfulness and personality. It has curving glass balustrades, white walls and oak-clad pillars, and expanses of plain paving outside. It is an architecture of near-emptiness, the default style of international art-world good taste.

Moore ran through the litany of changes Annabelle Selldorf is making in replacement of the current iteration’s “bum notes,” which the critic pinned on a rift between the original expansion's benefactors and what was then called Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates.

This is now the second Denise Scott Brown-designed museum that Selldorf has laid her (very capable) hands-on after the recently opened Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego revamp, which she said engendered a “greater clarity across the history of all the building types.” Moore, seizing on the difference in intrusion levels between the two similar projects, said “there could be more rapport between the current and the proposed and more cleverness and wit” before making a surprising turn to his own long-distant past.

Moore concluded, “by refusing to align themselves with any one architectural camp, trad...

Selldorf Architects reveals first round of designs for National Gallery's Sainsbury Wing redevelopment

2022-02-18T17:38:00-05:00

An important update has been issued to one of the most-watched cultural projects in the UK this afternoon after Selldorf Architects released their initial plans for the redesigned Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery of Art in London.

The firm was tapped in July to lead a multidisciplinary design team that includes Purcell, Vogt Landscape, and Arup.

A proposed loop connection of the Sainsbury Wing. Image courtesy Selldorf Architects.

As part of a public consultation phase that was unveiled today, the firm put forth its NG200 proposal for the overhauled award-winning Venturi, Scott Brown building, which is meant to increase accessibility in advance of the museum’s upcoming bicentenary celebration.

The initial batch of renderings appears to show a more opened-up foyer that welcomes visitors from a revamped entrance and newly-created public realm leading into Trafalgar Square. Improved lighting and wayfinding are to be emphasized throughout, including a new walking path meant to conn...

The National Gallery has tapped Selldorf Architects for its bicentennial upgrade

2021-07-14T19:41:00-04:00

London’s National Gallery has announced the architect for its upcoming renovation that’s part of a bicentennial celebration planned for the museum in 2024.

Selldorf Architects will be in charge of the renovation tied to a planned competition called the NG200 Project.

Selldorff beat out Chipperfield Architects and four other UK-based firms for the commission said to be the institution’s largest in two decades. The firm is coming off of a recent successful renovation of New York’s Frick Collection, and will now look to another high-profile museum project with the potential for tremendous institutional impacts at a critical juncture for culture writ large.

The £25-30 million project will upgrade the museum’s Sainsbury Wing as well as some public spaces around its Trafalgar Square entrance.

A five-member panel had previously raised the shortlist cap to include a sixth entry after announcing the competition in February.

The Grade-I Listed building will be getting a new foyer and resea...

Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth shortlist announced

2021-05-26T21:24:00-04:00

London’s mayoral office has announced six shortlist finalists for the annual Fourth Plinth Commission in Trafalgar Square.

The candidates for this year’s commission include an international slate of artists vying to be one of two winners that will replace Heather Phillipson’s THE END when it is removed in September of 2022.

Highlighted by a monument to 850 living trans women and the recreation of an unfinished grain silo Ibrahim Mahama knew as a child in rural Ghana, finalists seeking a shared theme of recollection and memento turned to their past integration of architecture to inform sculptures that, as artist Teresa Margolles told The Guardian, form an active “wall of memory.”

Other entries include a giant rocket ship meant to inspire future activists at the popular protest site, a jewelry tree sculpture by Nicole Eisenman inspired by Bloody Sunday, a statue based on a 1914 photograph of murdered Malawian...

National Gallery in London to pursue £25m renovation

2021-02-16T11:22:00-05:00

London’s National Gallery is embarking on a £25m-£30m project to upgrade its building, to be partly completed in early 2024 to celebrate its 200th anniversary. There will be three key elements: upgrading the lobby of the Sainsbury Wing, creating a new research centre and improving outdoor space on the edge of Trafalgar Square.

The Sainsbury Wing, designed by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, will have obvious limitations to what work can be done, given its Grade I listed status. According to The Art Newspaper, the work will be phased over five years. The first step will be to select a design team, which will be led by an architectural firm. A call for interested design teams is due to be sent out today, after which five teams will be shortlisted, reports The Arts Newspaper.