New London Architecture

National Gallery picks six-team shortlist for bicentenary plans

Monday 12 April 2021

David Taylor

Editor, NLQ and New London Weekly

The National Gallery last week shortlisted six ‘exciting and inspiring’ design teams in its search for a partner to work with it on a suite of capital projects to mark its Bicentenary and help London’s culture-led recovery.
As detailed in NLW by gallery director Doctor Garbriele Finaldi (link), an initial phase of work will be completed in 2024, to mark the Gallery’s 200th year.

The shortlisted teams are: 
·      Asif Khan with AKT II, Atelier Ten, Bureau Veritas, Donald Insall Associates, Donald Hyslop, Gillespies, Joseph Henry, Kenya Hara, and Plan A Consultants
·      Caruso St John Architects with Arup, Alan Baxter, muf architecture/art and Alliance CDM
·      David Chipperfield Architects with Publica, Expedition, Atelier Ten, iM2 and Plan A Consultants
·      David Kohn Architects with Max Fordham, Price & Myers, Purcell and Todd Longstaffe‐Gowan
·      Selldorf Architects with Purcell, Vogt Landscape Architects, Arup and AEA Consulting
·      Witherford Watson Mann Architects with Price and Myers, Max Fordham, Grant Associates, Purcell and David Eagle Ltd

The shortlist was selected from what the gallery called ‘an impressive pool of submissions from highly talented UK and international architect-led teams’. 

‘We were impressed and delighted with the high quality of the submissions we received’, said Director of the National Gallery, Dr Gabriele Finaldi. ‘It was not an easy task to reach the shortlist, but we are confident that we have chosen six teams that will produce a range of different approaches to excite and inspire us.’ 

Finaldi added that this was a significant moment in the development of the National Gallery ‘as we look forward to the recovery of our arts and cultural institutions, our city and our country’. 
Paul Gray, Chief Operating Officer of the National Gallery, said: ‘We are looking for demonstrable and exceptional design talent as well as the creativity to respond sensitively to the heritage and context of the Sainsbury Wing. We have identified teams that we know will offer exciting and inspiring visions, and we look forward to working with the winning team to unlock the potential of the spaces within the Sainsbury Wing and the public realm.’ 

In addition to members of the executive team and Trustees of the National Gallery, several independent panellists are advising on the selection process run by Malcolm Reading Consultants. These are: Edwin Heathcote, Architecture Critic and Author: leading structural engineer Jane Wernick CBE FREng: and Ben Bolgar, Senior Design Director for the Prince’s Foundation. The extremely high quality of the submissions led the panel to increase the number of design teams shortlisted from the originally envisaged five, to six.

Following an open call launched in February, the next steps will require the shortlisted teams to submit an initial tender, attend negotiation workshops, submit a final tender and then be interviewed by the selection panel. No design work will be required, and some expenses will be paid to the shortlisted teams. An appointment is expected to be made in July 2021.
NG200 will celebrate 200 years since the National Gallery’s foundation in 1824, programming a series of exhibitions and outreach nationally and around the world. The celebration will also include the completion of an initial phase of works to its Trafalgar Square buildings to improve the ‘welcome’ it provides to the millions of visitors it receives – normally – each year. 
The brief for the project includes sensitive interventions to the Grade I listed Sainsbury Wing to reconfigure the ground-floor entrance and upgrade the visitor amenities, creating new spaces that will provide a welcome experience befitting a world-class institution and that meets the expectations of 21st-century visitors. 

The work also includes a new Research Centre, which will support the Gallery’s vision of becoming a world leader in research into historic painting, and communicate its work as a global thought-leader by creating a resource for studies into art history, digital humanities, conservation, and heritage science. It will be a resource for everyone interested in studying art, from students to international academics, said the gallery.

The successful team will also be asked to reimagine the public realm immediately outside the Sainsbury Wing and along the northern edge of Trafalgar Square to improve the presence of the building in its context and create a more attractive and enjoyable setting for visitors and the public.

Underpinning the brief, added the gallery, is ‘the desire to create healthy, sustainable, and accessible spaces and an environment that is open and inclusive where visitors can relax as they plan their visit to one of the world’s finest art collections. Following a year of unprecedented challenges due to Covid-19, the National Gallery wants to build on its strength, inventiveness, and relevance to play a vital role in the nation’s recovery story’. 
 
 
Selection Panel
 
The selection panel comprised:
 
  • Dr Gabriele Finaldi, Director, The National Gallery
  • Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE, Chair of Trustees, The National Gallery
  •  Malcolm Reading RIBA, Chairman, Malcom Reading Consultants
  • David Marks, Trustee, The National Gallery
  • Tonya Nelson, Trustee, The National Gallery
  • Jane Wernick CBE FREng, Director eHRW 
  • Edwin Heathcote, Architecture and Design critic and author 
  • Ben Bolgar, Senior Design Director, Prince’s Foundation
 
 
 


David Taylor

Editor, NLQ and New London Weekly


Culture

#NLACulture


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