The Westminister City Council adopted a resolution to grant planning permission to the National Gallery for a series of adaptations, including Selldorf Architects’ restoration proposal for the Sainsbury Wing, originally designed by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. The plans to remodel were revealed earlier this year as part of the NG200 Project to celebrate the National Gallery’s bicentennial in 2024. The first intervention proposal for the Sainsbury Wing was met with widespread criticism, which led to a revision of the plans, released in October this year.
The plans include the renovation of the Pigott Education Center, Jubilee, and the surrounding public realm. They also cover the creation of a new Supporter’s House and Research Center from underused back-of-house spaces. One of the main goals of the intervention was to improve accessibility and create a direct connection between the Sainsbury Wing and the Wilkins Building, thus redirecting the National Gallery’s main access area to the Sainsbury Wing, a role that the building was not designed to accommodate. This initiative led many critics to qualify the proposal as being “disrespectful” to the original form.
One day before the panning decision was made, architect Denise Scott Brown urged Westminister officials to refuse the controversial plans to remodel the building designed by her and Robert Venturi. In a plea published in the US magazine Mas Context, she calls the intervention “arbitrary, meaningless and grounded in a proper and respectful understanding of the role of access in this museum.” She asks the committee to bring a scheme that better secures considerable architectural thought that informed the original work. “The chosen architect should return to the original plans and try to understand what they stood for and then interpret them in their own way. It should be important that they meet the same fundamental criteria that we met.”
The National Gallery defends the alterations to the Sainsbury Wing, declaring that the proposals will improve the visitor’s experience, make the space easier to navigate and bring in more natural light to the main foyer, thus also improving views out to Trafalgar Square. The building will also retain its Grade I listing. A statement released by the National Gallery declares that the interventions are designed to futureproof the Gallery, looking at the next 200 years. The new areas will also feature reduced energy demand through daylight and natural ventilation wherever possible.
The exchange we have had over the last 18 months with all those who care about the Gallery, not just in Westminster but around the world, is echoed in our plans and its dialogue with the existing buildings. We have retained the essential quality and features of the Sainsbury Wing whilst creating a space and arrival sequence that is welcoming to all. - Principal of Selldorf Architects, Annabelle Selldorf
The reopening of the Gallery is scheduled for May 2025. Selldorf Architects was appointed in July 2021 with a team including Purcell, Vogt Landscape, Arup, AEA Consulting, Pentagram, Kaizen, and Kendrick Hobbs. The architecture office, known for carrying out restoration projects, has recently been selected to revitalize the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C, US, in collaboration with SOM.
