Annabelle Selldorf, FAIA is the Principal of Selldorf Architects, a 70-person architectural design practice she founded in New York City in 1988. Selldorf Architects is leading the team reimagining the National Gallery in London to improve its welcome experience, remodeling parts of the Sainsbury Wing, and the public realm, along with a new Research Centre. Other cultural clients include the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Luma Arles in France, the Clark Art Institute, and Neue Galerie New York. In addition, the firm has created numerous galleries for David Zwirner, Hauser & Wirth, and Gladstone Gallery among others, and designed exhibitions for the Whitney Museum, Frieze Masters, Gagosian Gallery, and the Venice Art Biennale. The firm designed the Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility, a new recycling facility and education center on the Brooklyn waterfront, the largest of its kind in the United States.

Born and raised in Germany, Ms. Selldorf received a Bachelor of Architecture from Pratt Institute and a Master of Architecture from Syracuse University. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and serves on the Board of the Architectural League of New York, the World Monuments Fund, the Chinati Foundation, and the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. Additionally, Ms. Selldorf is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 2014 was the recipient of their prestigious Award in Architecture, and in 2016 received the AIA New York Medal of Honor. In 2021, she was recognized as design leader by Architectural Record’s Women in Architecture Awards. A frequent lecturer and juror, Ms. Selldorf has taught at Harvard and Syracuse University.

Selldorf Architects creates public and private spaces that manifest a clear and modern sensibility to enduring impact. Since its inception, the firm’s design ethos has been deeply rooted in the principles of humanism. At every scale and for every condition, Selldorf Architects designs for the individual experience. Creating buildings and spaces that bring people together and foster community is fundamental to the firm’s work. The firm has particular expertise in the specific demands of institutional projects, having completed numerous gallery and exhibition spaces, museums, libraries, study centers and artists’ studios. Sustainable design is an integral part of practice and fundamental to the conception, design and materials in our projects.

Q&A

If you weren’t in the architecture field, what would you be doing?
Perhaps a social anthropologist.