Selldorf Architects has completed its two-year transformation of the National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing, which now serves as the museum’s permanent entrance.
The Sainsbury Wing was reopened by King Charles III and Queen Camilla on 6 May ahead of the public reopening on 10 May.
As part of the National Gallery’s 200th birthday celebrations, the Grade I-listed building has undergone interventions to its external façade, foyer and mezzanine to provide a more welcoming first experience to the National Gallery’s millions of annual visitors.
New York-based Selldorf Architects’ worked alongside heritage architects Purcell as well as Vogt Landscape on the first phase of the project.
This involved remodelling parts of the Sainsbury Wing and improving the surrounding public area.
Key architectural interventions include an enlarged and enclosed vestibule, and an expanded public foyer with more natural light through a new clear glass façade.
Originally designed by American architects Venturi and Brown, the Grade I-listed Sainsbury Wing opened in 1991 as an extension to the museum‘s historic Wilkins building.
New permanent entrance to National Gallery
The second phase of the project will introduce a new research centre and Supporters’ House in the Wilkins building, as well as a below-grade link beneath Jubilee Walk.
Accessible from the Sainsbury Wing’s theatre level, this connection will improve circulation between the two buildings.
Paul Gray, deputy director and chief operating officer of the National Gallery, told blooloop last year: “The Sainsbury Wing was brilliant when it was when it was built and opened in 1991.”
He added, “But it really wasn’t built for 6 million visitors, and the needs of visitors have changed so much in the last 30 years.
“Visitors now demand and expect, quite rightly, bigger spaces, and better spaces to orientate themselves.”
To celebrate the reopening of its updated Sainsbury Wing, the National gallery is offering a unique overnight stay later this week.
Images courtesy of Edmund Sumner
