Architecture studio Kengo Kuma and Associates has won the competition to design a new wing for the National Gallery in London, which will be the museum’s largest transformation in its 200-year history.
Tokyo-based Kengo Kuma and Associates will work alongside architecture firms BDP and MICA to design the wing, which will house the National Gallery’s expanded collection.
It will be built on the site of the 1960s St Vincent House hotel and office complex behind the recently updated Sainsbury Wing and North Galleries.
Renders of the initial proposal reveal a textured entrance volume lined with glazed openings and flanked by a landscaped garden area. Spacious external areas overlooking the city will be defined by Portland stone.
Kengo Kuma and Associates’ new wing will house the National Gallery’s expanded collection
The announcement follows a competition for the design in September 2025, with the shortlist including submissions led by Foster + Partners and Selldorf Architects – the architect behind the remodel of the Sainsbury Wing.
It forms part of Project Domani, a £750 million campaign that the museum said will “redefine the National Gallery for the next century”.
Kengo Kuma and Associates’ winning competition entry with BDP and MICA was described by the jury as “exemplary”.
“The design is both innovative and beautiful, meeting the ambition and sensitivity required for an international gallery commission,” the panel said.
“It is respectful of the Sainsbury Wing galleries and the approach to the public realm and roof garden creates a generous presence, enhanced by trees and greenery,” the jury continued.
“The thoughtful design of the external spaces, with links to Leicester Square, evokes an open visitor welcome which is further enhanced using Portland stone and stepped massing, which shows sensitivity to the surrounding streets and allows natural light to be drawn into the building.”
Selldorf Architects completes controversial remodel of National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing
According to the jury panel, the galleries of the new wing will be fitted with “simple and clean” interiors in keeping with the existing spaces. In contrast, a more distinctive “geometric design” is expected to define the wing’s upper floor.
“The style of the galleries is very simple and clean, with a contrast between the main floor that incorporates vaults and arches, while the upper floor has a more geometric design,” the jury said.
“As a result, the main floor of galleries presents a continuum with the Sainsbury Wing and North Galleries, but the upper floor has its own style, which adds variety and a change of design pace to the overall scheme.”
Last year, New York-based Selldorf Architects completed its “dynamic and exciting” transformation of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown’s Sainsbury Wing for the London gallery. The project, which was heavily criticised, included opening up the ground floor by removing non-structural columns
Elsewhere, Kengo Kuma and Associates has recently completed a Chinese clay museum cloaked in handmade tiles and topped a sunken museum with a garden in Taiwan.
The renders are by Kin Creatives.