Redevelopment of the Louvre: architectural and landscape design agencies revealed

The vast redevelopment project at the Louvre Museum, which includes a new room for The Mona Lisais entrusted to a group of two architectural agencies and an agency of landscapers and town planners, the Ministry of Culture announced Monday, May 18.

“The project submitted by Studios Architecture Paris and Selldorf Architects was selected for the quality of its architectural proposal and its heritage, urban and landscape integration, fully integrating the issues of quality of reception of the public, clarity of paths, sobriety and vegetation, all with consideration relevant to security issues”, said the ministry in a press release. French agency of an international collective founded in 1985, Studios Architecture Paris participated in the design of the Louis Vuitton foundation in Paris and the Luma foundation in Arles (Bouches-du-Rhône), known for its stainless steel tower, two buildings designed by Frank Gehry.

For its part, Selldorf Architects is an agency founded in New York in 1988 by the German architect Annabelle Selldorf, renowned for her projects such as The Frick Collection in New York and the National Gallery in London. She will also take care of the scenography and museography of the Louvre construction site.

This tandem is completed by Base Landscape Architecture, a French agency responsible for the landscape and urban planning aspect of the project. These three winners were chosen by a jury, from five selected groups. “A period of consultation” will open for “the months to come”, also indicated the ministry, without giving a start date for the work. The architectural competition was announced on June 27, 2025, then the designation of the agencies was postponed on February 12, officially in the face of “the quality and richness of the proposals received”, in a context of social conflict within the famous museum.

Estimated at 660 million euros, the redevelopment of the east wing of the museum constitutes one of the components of the Louvre Nouvelle renaissance project announced in January 2025 by the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, which also provides for a renovation plan for the building. It involves the creation of new access to the busiest museum in the world – around nine million visitors annually – via the eastern part (Grande Colonnade), in addition to the main entrance via the Pyramid.

In total, the presidential project was evaluated by the Court of Auditors at 1.15 billion euros. Which means it is being fought by the unions who denounce a pharaonic project far from priorities. The project is led by the management who sees it as a way to remedy the obsolescence of the museum’s equipment, notably brought to light by the spectacular burglary of October 19, 2025.