Kulapat Yantrasast, the Bangkok-born architect behind Why Architecture, has completed a $70 million overhaul of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, which houses the arts of Africa, Oceania, and the ancient Americas. Working with executive architect Beyer Blinder Belle, Yantrasast redesigned the 40,000-square-foot exhibition hall to address longstanding conservation issues caused by a 200-foot glass wall on Central Park that exposed fragile objects to heat and light. The wing reopens to the public on May 31 after four years of construction.
The renovation matters because it resolves decades of curatorial challenges in a wing originally built in 1982 without adequate protection for light-sensitive materials like wood, feathers, and textiles. Yantrasast's approach—which he compares to Pad Thai, blending diverse elements into a cohesive experience—reflects a broader shift in museum design toward inclusivity and empathy. The project also highlights ongoing debates about how Western institutions display non-Western art, given the wing's origins in Nelson Rockefeller's collection and the Met's historical reluctance to accept such works as fine art.