"What matters is I know why we did things" says Annabelle Selldorf

Conviction in her design choices guided architect Annabelle Selldorf to complete high-profile renovations of the National Gallery's Sainsbury Wing in London and The Frick Collection in New York amid controversy, she says.

Selldorf recently spoke about her experience of working on the art museums in a panel talk at the National Gallery ahead of its Sainsbury Wing reopening this week.

Debate has surrounded Selldorf Architects' Sainsbury Wing revamp since designs were unveiled in 2022.

"It's not a foregone conclusion that everybody is going to like what you like"

The changes were criticised by those concerned about preserving the postmodern gallery wing, which opened in 1991 to the designs of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.

Scott Brown was among those urging planners not to go ahead with the proposal, describing it as "destructive" and that the "carefully orchestrated" flow of visitor movement would be lost.

"Looking back at these controversies, it's not a foregone conclusion that everybody is going to like what you like just because you do, but I do think that real dialogue and sound reasoning go a long way to create a solid argument," Selldorf told the audience.

The project entered the news again last year during the renovation work, when removal of a non-structural column revealed a decades-old letter by donor John Sainsbury, who wrote that the false columns were "a mistake" by Venturi and Scott Brown.

Now that the remodelling of the Sainsbury Wing is complete, Selldorf expressed confidence in her interventions, which include replacing dark glass with clear glass and reducing the first floor to a mezzanine.

She argued that each alteration made to the Grade I-listed building was done for a reason and had been discussed with other members of the project team, which included UK studio Purcell as heritage architect.

"What matters is I know why we did things"

"Design thinking is something that includes intuition, conviction, foreign materials, tectonics, all kinds of things that are personal, but you don't do it in isolation," Germany-born, New York-based Selldorf said.

"For me, what matters is that I know why we did things, and it's not an egotistical journey on your own," she continued. "We've all worked together and we've checked with one another."

The completion of the Sainsbury Wing comes hot on the heels of Selldorf's renovation and extension to The Frick Collection in New York, which was also not without controversy.

The expansion included adding 2,500 square metres of new construction and repurposing 5,574 square metres of existing space in the art museum, aiming to make the beaux-arts building better suited to today's visitors.

But the project faced fierce opposition from campaigners, with a protest group claiming the changes would "destroy or significantly alter" important elements of the building, especially the 1997 Russell Page Garden and the Music Room built as part of John Russell Pope's 1935 expansion.

Reflecting on completing the two hotly contentious projects in quick succession, Selldorf lightheartedly said, "Annoyingly, I was meant to live on the edge".

"It's a fantastic experience to know how much people care about The Frick and the National Gallery, and how much participation you get from people," she continued. "Sometimes it is a little scary."

"I feel grateful for the support and also the difficulties"

Despite the backlash against her designs, Selldorf said that what has driven her through to completing both galleries is conviction in her choices.

"I find myself naive enough to think that obviously we're going to do it well, because we do care so much," said Selldorf.

"I feel grateful for the support and also the difficulties that we had to face, because we came out the other end knowing that we did things with reason and authenticity," she added.

Speaking exclusively with Dezeen after the panel, Selldorf expanded on her approach to designing art museums.

Architecture should "make room for everybody to see works of art at their own pace and with their own focus", she said.

"Every artist gets to express what they want to express in different ways, and I think architects do too," she added.

"I think it's very interesting that as an architect, I remember works of art in the context of the space that I've seen them in. Whereas art historians see the work of art only, I remember the atmosphere, the light."

Building form and the movement of people through the space are Selldorf's first considerations when designing, with materials coming later, she explained.

"I think about materials last," she said. "As an architect, you think about space. You set up your priorities."

"The materials on walls, ceilings, floors, I think about when the time comes," Selldorf said. "Firstly, I think about how people move, the light and the proportion of the space."

"I think about all kinds of things as if it was in black and white, and then build it up," she added.

Last month, Time magazine named Selldorf on its Time 100 list of most influential people for 2025, alongside MAD founder Ma Yansong and world leaders Donald Trump and Keir Starmer.

When asked how she felt about the recognition, she said, "It's super weird, but very cool."

The top portrait of Selldorf is by Stephen Kent Johnson.

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