Washington, D.C.’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has announced that a joint team of SOM and Selldorf Architects will lead a major modernization of its now 48-year-old Gordon Bunshaft-designed facility in the last of a three-phase campus revitalization that will begin in 2025, according to the Washington Post.

The upgrades will cover the interior and plaza area and are being undertaken in order to help the museum adjust to a 40% rise in attendance that has been recorded since 2017. 

The project will address important areas such as storage, stormwater management, accessibility, vertical transportation, and other upgrades to its galleries and public areas to correspond with the museum’s needs. In a press statement, Selldorf co-principal Chris Cooper said: “Ensuring that the building is better able to accommodate the museum’s ambitious programs, while serving a larger and more diverse audience, is of critical importance. And we need to be able to do so while making the building more sustainable.”

Museum director Melissa Chiu added that “Art making has changed dramatically” since the museum opened in 1974, prompting a slate of changes that includes the controversial Hiroshi Sugimoto-led transformation of its sculpture garden and additional facade and roof repairs.

SOM says the plan is currently in its development phase, which will be subject to a public consultation process, and is going to focus on the “front door” National Mall entrance to the museum, expected to increase visitorship by some 300% once Sugimoto's work is completed in 2023. 

Archinect will share further updates as they become available.