After rocky start, Frick Collection selects Selldorf Architects to take on renovation

2016-10-21T12:31:00-04:00

“She’s somebody who has a clear vision of respect for historical buildings but at the same time has a clean, elegant, modernist aesthetic that is very much about welcoming visitors today,” said Ian Wardropper, the Frick’s director. In coming up with a new design, Ms. Selldorf has been charged with improving circulation in the Frick’s galleries, library and public spaces, while maintaining the museum’s existing footprint and preserving its jewel-box character.

Prior plans for the museum's addition (designed by Davis Brody Bond) were dropped by the Frick in June of last year, partially due to a letter of protest written on behalf of 51 artists and architects. This past March, the Frick put forward an RFQ for a new revision plan, and now that Selldorf has been selected, designs will be unveiled in 2017.

"It’s about enhancing the visitor’s experience and making it utterly seamless, so that it doesn’t harm any of the existing experience that people cherish, myself included,” Ms. Selldorf told the Times, speaking to the delicacies of renovating the late Gilded Age mansion's galleries, library and public spaces.

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After rocky start, Frick Collection selects Selldorf Architects to take on renovation