A Refreshed and Refined Michael C. Rockefeller Wing Opens at the Met

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Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates’ 1982 Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York—heralded at its opening but well past its prime—reopens to the public this weekend, fresh from a $70 million reimagining project. Located on the south side of the Met’s vast complex on Manhattan’s Upper East side, the 40,000-square-foot wing and its galleries housing the Met’s collections of the arts of Africa, the Ancient Americas, and Oceania, had been closed since 2021. First announced in late 2018 after considerable delay, the revamp was initially set to commence in 2020 and wrap up in 2023.

Holdups aside, the debut of the wing’s refreshed and reconfigured galleries marks a major milestone in a prolonged campus metamorphosis underway at the Met of which there are myriad components in various states of progress, some already completed. Coming further down the line as part of the museum’s master plan are NADAAA and Moody Nolan’s reworking of the Ancient Near Eastern and Cypriot Art Galleries, Peterson Rich Office’s new special-exhibitions gallery off the museum’s Great Hall, and Frida Escobedo’s 125,000 square foot Tang Wing for Modern and Contemporary Art.

The Arts of Africa galleries. Photo by Bridgit Beyer, courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bangkok-born, Los Angeles-based Kulapat Yantrasast of WHY Architecture, joined by Beyer Blinder Belle and the Met’s (very busy) Design Department, led the overhaul of the Rockefeller Wing. Rather than making a dramatic statement, Yantrasast’s subtle yet potent redesign, offers cohesion, ease-of-navigation, and less fragmented connections between the wing and the rest of the museum. But above all, it offers light. An abundance of meticulously managed daylight pours through a 200-foot-long, custom-designed sloped glass wall on the south facade facing out to Central Park. Featuring digitally controlled blinds and (now mandatory) bird fritting, the new state-of-the-art, triple-glazed curtain wall replaces Roche Dinkeloo’s old floor-to-roof glazed facade that was contentious upon the wing’s opening in 1982 and, throughout its existence, was more often shuttered than not. From energy efficiency and art preservation standpoints, the wing’s signature architectural feature, which mirrors the angled glass wall of the Sackler Wing’s Temple of Dendur gallery to the north, was an unrequited mess.

As for the galleries themselves, they were cramped and cave-like, creating a jumbled, disjointed visitor experience. Now, in their wholly reinstalled state, the wing’s three distinct, millennia- and continent–spanning collections co-exist more harmoniously. They have been given room to breathe. The collections, Yantrasast said at a May 28 press preview, deserved more than a “dark room with spotlights.” There’s a certain newfound spaciousness to the airy, all-white galleries—16 in total, with more than 1,800 works on view—that suggests the wing’s transformation entailed a renovation and an addition. But as Met leadership stressed during the press event, the project was a pure gut renovation, complete with new mechanical systems, carried out within the same footprint of Roche Dinkeloo’s landmarked 1982 wing.

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The Ancient Americas Galleries. Photos by Bridgit Beyer (1), Bruce Schwarz (2), courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art 

When it first opened, the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing was dedicated to the display of “primitive” art. It wasn’t until nearly a decade later, in 1991, that the Met’s Board of Trustees voted to rename the curatorial division as the Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. Times have obviously changed over the past 40-odd years, and Yantrasast hopes that the reinstalled collections continue to promote curiosity and understanding.

“Museums like the Met are really places of empathy, which can open minds to what the world’s civilizations and cultures have to offer,” he said. “I would hope that with the Rockefeller Wing we made a place where art and empathy for other cultures will always prevail.”

The Arts of Oceania galleries. Photo by Paula Lobo, courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing’s public reopening will be celebrated with all-day festivities at the Met, on May 31, including live performances, special film screenings, workshops, and food experiences. Yantrasast will also join Met director and CEO Max Hollein for a public conversation about the renovation and the evolving role of architecture in museums today. Additional information can be found on the Met’s website.