The National Gallery has today announced plans to raise a total of £750m for what it calls Project Domani—the expansion of its collection into the 20th and 21st centuries, and the development of a new wing to house these works. The figure, around half of which has already been pledged, is among the most ambitious fundraising targets ever for a UK museum.
The gallery’s fundraising plans were released alongside a shortlist of architectural firms to design the new extension, which will be built just to the north of the recently refurbished 1991 Sainsbury Wing. It will be on the site of St Vincent House, which currently houses a hotel and office complex, and is due to be demolished.
Gabriele Finaldi, the director of the National Gallery, says the £750m campaign will redefine the institution for the next century. “We are building momentum towards our vision of creating new spaces to house an expanded collection, building an acquisitions fund for modern paintings, while also ensuring the gallery’s long-term financial sustainability through a robust endowment,” he explains.
Of the £750m needed for Project Domani (“Tomorrow”, in Italian), around £400m will be earmarked for the new extension. This sum will be clearer once detailed plans have been drawn up by the selected final architect.
Most of the £400m has already been raised. The gallery announced in September that two record donations of £150m each had been pledged by the Crankstart foundation and the Julia Rausing Trust. Crankstart is led by the California-based venture capitalist Michael Moritz, while Rausing’s fortune came from the Swedish-based Tetra Pak food-packaging company.
A further £75m has been promised by the National Gallery Trust, the chairman of the gallery’s trustees John Booth and anonymous donations.
This leaves around £375m to be raised, which is expected to be used for two further needs. First, to buy post-1900 acquisitions, and secondly to create an endowment fund which will be partly used to cover the additional expenses of running the new extension.
The architects vying to replace St Vincent House (above) include Foster + Partners, who designed the British Museum’s Great Court
© The National Gallery, London
Who are the shortlisted architects?
Six architectural groups are on the gallery’s shortlist to build this new extension, whittled down from 65 applications made via an international competition. These are: Farshid Moussavi Architecture and Piercy & Company; Foster + Partners; Kengo Kuma and Associates and BDP; Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Adamson Associates; Selldorf Architects and Purcell; and Studio Seilern Architects.
Many of these firms have already been involved in major UK museum projects. For instance, Foster + Partners designed the British Museum’s Great Court, Kengo Kuma was responsible for the V&A Dundee, and Selldorf was behind the National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing refurbishment.
The six groups will now participate in a design competition. It is expected that the final choice will be made by next April. The extension is then due to open in the very early 2030s.