Change at the top of the museum world as New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced Mexican architect Frida Escobedo as its new designer of the forthcoming Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing for modern and contemporary art.

Escobedo now officially replaces David Chipperfield, who had been selected by then-director Thomas Campbell in 2015. An announcement from the museum noted that the new wing will encompass some 80,000 square feet of more accessible galleries and public space all made possible by the Tang’s contribution to the nearly $500 million total cost.

The 42-year-old’s work has thus far been defined most notably by her 2018 design for the Serpentine Pavilion and through her eponymous Mexico City-based practice, which has authored a wide range of projects that include everything from historic renovation of an iconic hotel in Acapulco to investigations into the lives of domestic workers in Mexico City, among other standout projects. Escobedo has held teaching positions at Rice, Columbia, and the Harvard GSD in addition to her position as the Louis I. Kahn Visiting Professor at the Yale School of Architecture, which she currently holds. 

“[Frida] is an outstanding architect of our time. In her practice, she wields architecture as a way to create powerful spatial and communal experiences, and she has shown dexterity and sensitivity in her elegant use of material while bringing sincere attention to today’s socioeconomic and ecological issues,” the Met’s director Max Hollein said in a statement. “Already through her partnership, Frida has demonstrated her vision to create enthralling galleries that will challenge the embedded hierarchies of our history and chart a more accessible trajectory for the new wing.” 

The expansion has been a point of contention for the 150-year-old museum since the end of Philippe de Montebello’s tenure in 2008, when it became obvious that the museum’s current facilities were mostly inadequate and out of date. Then came the news of a sizable donation from billionaire philanthropist Leonard A. Lauder in 2013, which necessitated (at least in the board’s mind) the temporary acquisition of the newly-vacated Marcel Breuer building on Madison Avenue. That chapter ended rather poorly and without much fanfare coinciding with the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, and was preceded by a gut renovation of the extant Kevin Roche-designed modern wing and the museum’s eventual decision to place the Chipperfield project on hold for seven years after costs swelled to nearly $800 million.

Now, with the blessing of what is perhaps the country’s most significant cultural institution, Escobedo, who beat out four other firms including SO – IL for the commission, will take center stage as not only a young designer new to the museum typology but also, importantly, as a woman of color whose background and experience “draws from multiple cultural narratives, values local resources, and addresses the urgent socioeconomic inequities and environmental crises that define our time,” according to the Met’s Head of Construction Jhaelen Hernandez-Eli.

“The Tang Wing presents an opportunity to give new life to the Museum's art from the 20th and 21st century; to celebrate the dynamics we can find within art of different times, geographies, and ideologies; and to uncover new spaces for self-reflection and connection with others,” shared Frida Escobedo.

“As we enter this next exciting phase in the reimagination of how we display The Met’s collection of modern and contemporary art, we look forward to thinking beyond the existing spaces that have confined our ideas to date, to make possible a truly trans-historic and transcultural interpretation of art,” current Leonard A. Lauder Chair of Modern and Contemporary Art Sheena Wagstaff added finally. 

“This is a major turning point in how we can make relevant 122 years of modern art within the deep history of The Met’s collections, and to reckon with what the future might bring. Frida will be a great partner for this ambitious project, and it is with pleasure that I anticipate working together with our respective teams to create a building that will be the embodiment of our moment in time architecturally, and a dynamic vision for the 21st century and beyond.”