Architecture News

Renzo Piano to Design New David Zwirner Gallery in Chelsea

Architects & Firms

Renzo Piano is in the early stages of designing his second project on Manhattan’s far west side (the first being the Whitney Museum of American Art): David Zwirner’s new multinational headquarters. The art dealer announced the plans this week in anticipation of his gallery’s 25th anniversary exhibition, which opens on January 13. The new space will be Zwirner’s fourth gallery in New York City and seventh in the world (his first Asian gallery, in Central Hong Kong, opened this month), although it is likely that his 19th street location will close upon the project’s completion.

Renzo Piano (left) will design a new $50 million Chelsea gallery for David Zwirner’s (right).
Photos courtesy Renzo Piano Building Workshop, © Dirk Esuterbrock/Wikimedia Commons

With the new project, Zwirner diverges from his working relationship with Annabelle Selldorf, who designed two of his galleries in Chelsea and one on the Upper East Side. According to the New York Times, the decision to enlist Piano was pushed by the project’s developer. The $50 million structure will be linked to an adjacent 20-story residential building.

The 43,000-square-foot gallery will be spread across three floors. The interior spaces are likely to have a similarly subdued aesthetic to Zwirner’s current galleries, which regularly feature works by esteemed artists such as Richard Serra, Yayoi Kusama, and Josef and Anni Albers.

Piano, of course, is no stranger to designing spaces for art, although this will be the architect’s first commercial gallery. Besides the nearby Whitney, his other notable projects include the Menil Collection in Houston and the Kimbell Art Museum addition in Forth Worth, Texas, as well as the upcoming Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.

The project is expected to break ground this spring, and is slated for completion in 2020.

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KEYWORDS: New York City

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Alex was an associate editor at Architectural Record. Prior to joining the magazine, she worked in marketing and communications for New York–based architecture firms. Her writing has appeared in the Architect’s Newspaper and CityLab. Alex holds a master’s degree in design criticism from the School of Visual Arts and a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University.