The Met announced Monday that Frida Escobedo, a Mexican architect, has been chosen to renovate The Met’s contemporary and modern galleries. These are known as the Oscar L. Tang Wing and H.M. Agnes Hsu–Tang Wing.
The Manhattan Museum’s iconic wing has been redesigned to house contemporary and modern art as well as drawings and prints.
Since more than a decade, the Met has sought to renovate the existing contemporary and modern galleries. At an estimated cost of $500 million, the project will create approximately 80,000 square feet worth of galleries and public spaces.
According to the museum, “through flexible gallery spaces, wing will emphasize interconnectedness of time and space and suggest a nonchronological narrative.”
Escobedo was quoted by the museum as saying that “The Met is one among the most relevant sites of culture on a worldwide scale, and it’s an honor to have been selected for this historic architectural reconstruction.”
Escobedo wrote that the Tang Wing offers an opportunity to breathe new life into the Museum’s art of the 20th century and 21st centuries; to celebrate the dynamic we can find in art from different times, geographies and ideologies.”
In 2006, Escobedo established a Mexico City architectural firm under her own name. After being selected to design the annual Serpentine Pavilion at London’s Kensington Gardens, Escobedo gained widespread recognition.
She is most well-known among Mexicans because she oversaw the renovation of the mid century modern Hotel Boca Chica on the Pacific coast resort Acapulco.