An architectural practice known for its part in global cultural landmarks has secured a multimillion-pound project to reimagine the National Gallery.
Japan-based firm Kengo Kuma & Associates (KKAA), which designed Lisbon’s Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, has won the competition to design the London gallery’s new wing.
It will work alongside design practices BDP and MICA, the latter of which has been a part of projects to transform Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum and Dulwich Picture Gallery in London.
The National Gallery has spent months searching for a company to lead its largest development bid ever, the £750 million Project Domani.
It will see the gallery create an extension that reaches out into the space between Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square, along the building’s north-south axis. The wing is intended to house its expanded collection, which for the first time in its history will include works created after 1900.
Jurors evaluating architectural submissions for the project found KKAA’s entry to be “respectful” of existing galleries, while also proving “innovative and beautiful”.
It beat out five other shortlisted applications, with National Gallery chair of trustees and jury chair John Booth saying the decision was “unanimous”.
“A beautiful design inside and out, sensitive to our existing Grade I exteriors and distinctive gallery spaces, the new building will also help to unite two of London’s most important outdoor spaces – Leicester and Trafalgar Squares – by creating enticing new public realm between them,” he said.
Pursuing financial resilience
The funds raised for Project Domani, which means ‘tomorrow’ in Italian, include the two largest publicly reported single cash donations to a museum or gallery in the world.
The institution is currently facing a potential £8.2m deficit in the year to come, though a spokesperson previously told Arts Professional Project Domani is “not part of the issues the gallery is now facing”, but remains “very much part of our solution to safeguard our future”.
As well as the building project, the scheme includes plans to establish an acquisitions fund for modern paintings, and creating “long-term financial sustainability” through a robust endowment.
The National Gallery’s director, Sir Gabriele Finaldi, said: “The new building will complete the National Gallery’s campus, adding distinction to some already distinguished buildings.
“We are thrilled to be working with Kengo Kuma and his design partners, BDP and MICA, on this exciting new development for the nation’s gallery and for central London.”