Mexican architect and the 2018 Serpentine Pavilion-designer Frida Escobedo has been announced as the designer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's new the Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing in New York. 

The Met announced on 14 March in a press statement that the institution has selected Mexican architect Frida Escobedo to realize the renovation of The Met’s modern and contemporary galleries, the Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing.

The project was assigned to David Chipperfield Architects in 2015. In 2017, The Met announced it had halted renovations for seven years due to budget cuts and the rising costs of David Chipperfield Architects' project, reported by The Architect's Newspaper. 

Once complete, Escobedo will be the first woman to design a wing at The Met.

The project will full reimagine the current modern and contemporary galleries, which The Met has been seeking to revamp for more than a decade. The new design will create 80,000 square feet (7,432 square meters) of galleries and public space. The cost of the renovation is estimated to be $500 million.

"The Met is one of the most relevant sites for culture on a global scale, and it is an honor to be selected for this historic architectural reimagining," said Frida Escobedo. 

"The Tang Wing presents an opportunity to give new life to the Museum's art from the 20th and 21st century; to celebrate the dynamics we can find within art of different times, geographies, and ideologies; and to uncover new spaces for self-reflection and connection with others." 

"I look forward to working with The Met's teams on this remarkable project," she added.

"Frida Escobedo is an outstanding architect of our time"

"The new wing will be a vibrant, exhilarating space that meets The Met’s current and future needs while promoting a lively representation and reevaluation of the art of the 20th and 21st century in the context of 5,000 years of art history," said Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director of The Met. 

"Frida Escobedo is an outstanding architect of our time. In her practice, she wields architecture as a way to create powerful spatial and communal experiences, and she has shown dexterity and sensitivity in her elegant use of material while bringing sincere attention to today’s socioeconomic and ecological issues." 

"Already through her partnership, Frida has demonstrated her vision to create enthralling galleries that will challenge the embedded hierarchies of our history and chart a more accessible trajectory for the new wing," Hollein added.

The new wing will feature works from the 20th- and 21st-century art from a global, encyclopedic, playful, and surprising perspective, it will also feature works from the Department of Photographs and the Department of Drawings and Prints.

No preliminary design for the project has yet been released. However, The Met stated that "This bold new vision will result in a building that respects and connects with the Museum’s archipelago of architectural styles as well as its spatial organization and infrastructure."

"Through flexible gallery spaces, the wing will emphasize the interconnectedness of space and time and suggest a non-chronological narrative."

2018 Serpentine Pavilion designed by Frida Escobedo. Image © Iwan Baan

Frida Escobedo founded her eponymous studio in Mexico City in 2006. The studio’s reputation—initially built on the strength of a series of competition-winning projects in her native country, including the renovation of the Hotel Boca Chica (2008), the El Eco Pavilion (2010) and the expansion of La Tallera Siqueiros in Cuernavaca (2012).

The architect has expanded the studio's global scope since 2018, when she received the prestigious appointment to design the annual Serpentine Pavilion in London’s Kensington Gardens in 2018, becoming the youngest architect at the time to undertake the project.

Her practice operates across a wide array of scales and mediums, from buildings and experimental preservation projects to temporary installations and public sculpture, limited-edition objects, publications, and exhibition design.

Top image: Frida Escobedo Image © Ana Hop

> via The Met