The Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday named Martino Stierli, a professor at the University of Zurich, its new chief curator of architecture and design.

Mr. Stierli, 40 years old, will begin at MoMA in March 2015. In a statement, MoMA's director, Glenn Lowry, called Mr. Stierli someone who "brings an international perspective and possesses an extraordinary ability to brilliantly relate architecture and its image to its cultural context."

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The appointment comes amid debate over MoMA's own architecture and physical campus: It bought and demolished the former home of the nearby American Folk Art Museum, despite protests from architects and preservationists.