Annabelle Selldorf | Lead Juror
Annabelle Selldorf is the Principal of Selldorf Architects, a 65-person architectural design practice she founded in New York City in 1988. The firm creates public and private spaces that manifest a clear and modern sensibility with enduring impact. At every scale and for every condition, Selldorf Architects designs for the individual experience. As a result, its work is brought to life—and made complete—by
those who use it.
The firm has particular expertise in the complex requirements of cultural projects, having completed numerous museums, galleries, exhibition spaces, study centers and artists’ studios. Cultural clients include The Frick Collection, National Gallery London, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Art Gallery of Ontario, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection, and Neue Galerie New York. Recent commissions also include the renovations of the Wallace
Collection in London and the Musée Yves Saint Laurent in Paris, the Clark Art Institute’s new Aso O. Tavitian Wing, and a new winery for Château Haut Brion in Bordeaux. Alongside cultural clients the firm works on major public and civic projects including Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility on the Brooklyn waterfront and two wastewater management buildings for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection on the Gowanus Canal. Residential architecture, both at the scale of private homes and multi-family dwellings, has also been a foundational part of the firm’s portfolio. This includes One Domino Square, Selldorf Architects’ first residential skyscraper, which spans 700,000 square feet across two towers connected by a podium.
Born and raised in Cologne, Germany, Selldorf received a Bachelor of Architecture from Pratt Institute and a Master of Architecture from Syracuse University. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and serves on the Board the Chinati Foundation, the Architectural League of New York, the World Monuments Fund, and the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. Selldorf is a frequent lecturer and juror and has taught at Harvard and Syracuse University. In 2016, she received the AIA New York Medal of Honor in 2016. In 2025 Selldorf was named one of TIME 100 most influential people and received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute.