American architects who have worked with museums around the world have been chosen to lead the multi-million pound makeover of the National Gallery.
Selldorf Architects, whose previous clients include the Frick Collection and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, have been charged with designing “a comprehensive” plan to remake the building’s modern Sainsbury Wing.
The museum, which is home to work by artists from Monet to Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Rubens, wants to make the modern extension a “more open, inclusive and enjoyable environment for visitors”, as well as house a new research centre.
The firm’s founder Annabelle Selldorf said it was an “honour” to be chosen for the project which is timed to coincide with the gallery’s bi-centenary in 2024. She promised an “inspiring, sustainable and truly inclusive” design.
Gallery director Dr Gabriele Finaldi said the remaking of the building was part of a wider plan to create “the National Gallery of the future - for the nation and for the world”.
He said: “Our Bicentenary in 2024 is a key moment in this creation of the new National Gallery. We will demonstrate the values we hold, and the value we create as we enter our third century with renewed and bold ambition, and perhaps most importantly – hope.”
He added that the architects had “demonstrated a real understanding of our ambitions as well as sensitivity to the heritage of our existing buildings”.
Speaking when he launched the plans earlier this year, Dr Finaldi promised a “sensitive intervention” to the building which opened in 1991 after an earlier proposed extension was cancelled having been famously described by Prince Charles as a “monstrous carbuncle”.
