VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The New York Times reports that the Frick Collection’s renovation will be done by Selldorf Architects. The firm, which is led by Annabelle Selldorf, is hardly an unexpected choice, given that it has designed various New York art spaces, from the Neue Galerie to David Zwirner.
Selldorf told the Times that there is no design yet (it will be done by winter 2017), but that she has no intention of getting rid of the museum’s garden, which was designed by the British architect Russell Page. Initial plans for the renovation were met with criticism after it was announced that they called for eliminating the gated green.
David Brody Bond had previously been asked to renovate the museum. In addition to his controversial plans for the garden, Bond’s design would have added floors to the museum and extended it, offering the Frick about 50 percent more space than it currently has. Architects, critics, and New York City government officials stood up to the plan, arguing that it would change the museum’s image and hurt the surrounding neighborhood. The design was subsequently halted about a year after it was announced.
“It’s about enhancing the visitor’s experience and making it utterly seamless, so that it doesn’t harm any of the existing experience that people cherish, myself included,” Selldorf told the Times. “We’ll do our darndest.”