The Metropolitan Museum of Art Unveils the Design for a New Wing by Mexican Architect Frida Escobedo

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, widely regarded as one of the most important cultural institutions in the United States, boasts an unparalleled collection of 1.5 million artworks spanning 5,000 years of human history. Since its founding, the museum has been a bastion of encyclopedic art, but its commitment to contemporary art, formalized in 1967 under Henry Geldzahler, added a forward-looking dimension to its legacy. Initially focused on American painting and sculpture, the Department of Contemporary Arts expanded in the 1970s to include European art, decorative arts and design. In more recent years, particularly since 2012, the Met has made significant strides in diversifying its collection, prioritizing works by women and artists of color with a strong emphasis on Latin America, South Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and the African diasporas.

Now the institution’s evolving trove of modern and contemporary art is set to gain a new home in the Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing, a project set to redefine the Met’s presence when completed in 2030. Designed by celebrated Mexican architect Frida Escobedo, the construction of the wing will mark a historic milestone as the first designed by a woman in the museum’s 154-year history. Escobedo, selected for the project in 2022, has unveiled a design that skillfully bridges the past and present, connecting seamlessly to the museum’s eclectic architectural legacy while introducing a dynamic, modern sensibility. The new wing promises to transform the museum experience, adding more than 70,000 square feet of gallery space for modern and contemporary art—a nearly 50 percent increase. Beyond its sheer size, the Tang Wing will tackle critical issues of accessibility, sustainability and infrastructure, bringing the museum’s functionality into the 21st Century.

Escobedo has described her vision as one that fluidly interweaves the Modern and Contemporary Art galleries with the museum’s broader collections, enhancing their dialogue and the new wing’s iconicity as a New York City landmark. “The wing is in New York, yet of the world; it reflects this great collection’s global nature and draws inspiration from The Met’s unique surroundings,” she explained in a statement.

Conceived as a three-story structure with a recessed fourth floor and an additional setback on the fifth, the scaled façade of the Met’s new wing draws inspiration from Kevin Roche’s visionary 1971 master plan. Echoing Roche’s rhythm of solids and voids, originally expressed through the interplay of glass and limestone in the seven buildings he designed for the museum, Escobedo’s façade will reinterpret these elements with a contemporary twist. Crafted from “celosía” limestone, the façade features a distinctive mineral texture and stone latticework, creating a translucent surface that dances with sunlight throughout the day. This dynamic interplay of light and shadow not only links the design to Roche’s architectural legacy but also nods to a universal language of architecture that transcends cultures and centuries. Floor-to-ceiling glass elements further complement the limestone lattice, harmonizing with hallmark features of the museum’s existing architecture, including the Beaux-Arts Fifth Avenue façade designed by Richard Morris Hunt and McKim, Mead & White.

Inside, Escobedo envisions a rhythmic and fluid space with ceiling heights ranging from 11 to 22 feet, offering unparalleled flexibility for curatorial experimentation. The varied heights will accommodate large-scale installations while also creating intimate areas for quiet reflection. A café on the fifth floor will provide visitors with a place to pause and recharge, while large, south-facing windows on the fourth and fifth floors will frame iconic views of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline year-round, merging the experience of art and environment.

Accessibility and sustainability are central to the project. The addition of a second elevator core, ramps and multiple entry points will vastly improve the building’s functionality for all visitors. At the same time, the strategic placement of windows will optimize the use of natural light, reducing energy consumption while still safeguarding artworks from harmful solar exposure. These measures, paired with energy-efficient systems, underscore the museum’s commitment to environmental responsibility.

The redesign also extends beyond the building itself, with plans to elevate the surrounding outdoor spaces to meet the impeccable standards of Central Park. In collaboration with the Central Park Conservancy (CPC) and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) the Met will integrate the museum’s green spaces into the broader park landscape, enhancing the visitor experience inside and out.

Max Hollein, the Met’s director and CEO, spoke to the press about the project’s significance in bringing contemporary art to the forefront of the institution’s mission. “The Met has a responsibility to New York City and the world to present the art of our time in exceptionally compelling, scholarly, and innovative displays that illuminate the rich—and at times surprising—connections that can be drawn across our collection,” he said. “Escobedo’s elegant, contemporary design reflects not only an understanding of architectural history, materiality, and artistic expression but also a deep appreciation for the Met’s mission, collection, and visitors.”

The history of the Met’s contemporary and modern collection

Since 1987, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 20th- and 21st-century art collection has been housed in the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing. However, as the collection grew and the museum’s ambitions expanded, it became clear that additional space was needed to properly showcase the art of our time. For a brief period, the Met addressed this need by utilizing the Met Breuer, a modernist icon on Madison Avenue, to mount a series of ambitious exhibitions. The program launched in 2016 with two landmark inaugural shows: “Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible,” a cross-departmental exploration of the “nonfinito” style featuring works by artists ranging from Titian to Louise Bourgeois, and the largest-ever exhibition dedicated to Indian modernist Nasreen Mohamedi. However, financial concerns and the global upheaval of Covid-19 forced the Met to shutter the contemporary art-focused operation at the Met Breuer permanently in July 2020, leasing the building to the Frick Collection, which used the space temporarily while its Fifth Avenue galleries underwent renovation.

The need for improved modern and contemporary galleries at the Met has long been a priority. In 2014, the museum announced a $600 million plan to rebuild its wing dedicated to this collection, but financial constraints put the project on hold. At the time, then-director Thomas P. Campbell emphasized the importance of the endeavor, calling it “the urgent project we pursue first” and noting that the museum was “baking these long-term projects into a responsible master plan that matches our capacity with our ambition.”

The project gained new momentum in 2021 when the Met secured a record-breaking $125 million donation from longtime trustee Oscar L. Tang and his wife, Agnes Hsu-Tang, an archaeologist and art historian, for whom the new wing is named. By May 2024, the museum announced that it had reached its $550 million fundraising goal through private donations, finally securing the resources needed to launch the long-awaited expansion. The operation is projected to generate 4,000 union jobs, with 30-40 percent of the work targeted for minority- and women-owned business enterprises, making it a significant step forward not only for the museum but for the wider community.