Annabelle Selldorf on Architecture as Portraiture

In another life, the German-born architect Annabelle Selldorf might have been a painter or a profile writer. In this one, she expresses her proclivity for portraiture as the principal of the New York–based firm Selldorf Architects, which she founded in 1988. Renowned for its work in the art world—from galleries such as David Zwirner and Hauser & Wirth to cultural institutions including The Frick Collection in New York, the National Gallery in London, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.—Selldorf’s firm has also designed a wide variety of residential projects and civic buildings. Many of these designs serve as architectural depictions of their respective clients, revealing each one’s inner nature and underlying ethos.

On this episode, Selldorf discusses the links she sees between Slow Food and her architecture, the intuitive aspects of form-making, and why she considers architecture “the mother of all arts.”

Special thanks to our Season 8 sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels.

Show notes: 

[00:31] Selldorf Architects

[08:19] The Frick Collection

[10:42] Lucian Freud

[17:45] Dia Beacon

[18:43] Art Gallery of Ontario expansion

[18:54] Two Row

[18:57] Diamond Schmitt

[26:08] Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility

[30:03] CSO Red Hook

[30:05] CSO Owls Head

[34:31] National Gallery, London

[35:17] One Domino Park

[37:15] John Russell Pope

[37:28] Thomas Hastings

[43:13] I.M. Pei

[55:38] Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

[58:54] Neue Galerie