The Met Reopens the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing

The Met's Michael C. Rockefeller Wing consists of sixteen numbered galleries displaying around 1,800 works in three collections: the Arts of Africa, the Ancient Americas, and Oceania. The wing originally opened in 1982 per a design by Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo, the architects responsible for the late-1960s master plan that added hundreds of thousands of square feet across the museum to accommodate numerous gifts, most famously the Temple of Dendur as well as what was initially called the Michael C. Rockefeller Collection of Primitive Art. Assembled by politician Nelson A. Rockefeller over the 1950s and 60s, the large collection of indigenous art spanning nearly three-quarters of the globe ranged from small jewelry to large objects, including the nearly 20-foot (6m) bis poles made by the Asmat people of New Guinea. Artworks like the latter led to the design of tall galleries behind sloping glass walls at the south end of the museum, echoing the Temple of Dendur gallery added to the museum's north facade. The wing was named for Nelson Rockefeller's son, Michael, who had a strong interest in Oceanic art but went missing in 1961 at the age of 23 while on an expedition in New Guinea (he was assumed dead a few years later).

Kulapat Yantrasast and WHY Architecture were selected in 2016 to renovate and reimagine the 40,000-square-foot (3,716-m²) Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, with Beyer Blinder Belle Architects chosen as executive architect on the $70 million project. The galleries were closed in 2021, with three years devoted to construction and more than one year needed to reinstall the artworks. The three collections fit into a 200x200-foot (61x61m) square footpring, with Africa situated in the northeast, Oceania extending diagonally from the northwest to the southeast, and the Ancient Americas in the southwest. (See The Met's online map for orientation and to reference the gallery numbers from the photo captions.) Although each region has its own galleries, the flow between them is loose, with large portals inviting museum goers to venture from region to region. 

World-Architects got a tour of the galleries from architect Kulapat Yantrasast and Brett Gaillard, head of capital projects at The Met, ahead of the galleries reopening to the public on May 31, 2025.

The Met anticipates that most of the visitors to the Rockefeller Wing will arrive via the galleries dedicated to Greek and Roman art, in which case they will first encounter the view above. Formerly, museum goers would have predominantly used the gallery in this location as circulation, as a shortcut to the modern and contemporary art in the southwest corner of the museum's large footprint. Via such features as the vaulted ribs, which refer to the Great Hall and other grand spaces in The Met, and regionally inflected spaces for looking at art, the architects and curators want visitors to stop and explore the renovated galleries and their artworks on display. In one instance, Yantrasast said he looked at the Great Mosque of Djenné as inspiration for the main gallery in the Arts of Africa, designing it as an “enfilade of chapels that allow different cultures to nestle in and have their own sense of place.”

Although the layout of the Rockefeller Wing is square, in section it is separated into three zones: the tall, vaulted space on the north; the expansive space with flat ceiling next to the sloping glass wall on the south; and a low, 11-foot (3.35m) space in between. Given the varying heights of these three areas and the strong daylight coming from the south, artificial light levels were important. (Both daylight and artificial light were handled by Arup.) Generally, the taller galleries on the south and north are bright, while the lower, more intimate galleries in between are darker; in both cases, focused lighting puts an emphasis on the artworks while surrounding illumination is high enough to limit contrast and any dark areas while walking around the numerous vitrines.

The opposite end of the vaulted space on the north side of the Rockefeller Wing is devoted to Oceanic art. Visitors coming from the modern and contemporary wing would see the view at the top of the article, with the Asmat bis poles commanding the vaulted space and justifying the hight ceiling. Originally located next to the sloping glass wall on the south (see photo near top), this group of poles had to be moved due to damage from direct sunlight. In their new location, the bis poles serve two architectural functions: dramatically terminating the view from the Africa gallery, and curving in plan to direct museum goers to continue along the diagonal sweep of the Oceania galleries.

The diagonal vista through the Oceania galleries (above) is one of the most subtle yet effective aspects of WHY's design for the Rockefeller Wing. The distant sunlight coming through the sloping south wall—visible through the glass partitions, portals, and glass vitrines—pulls visitors through the galleries, while the layout of the vitrines, which are used throughout the wing to allow artworks to be seen in the round, encourages meandering in these intimate spaces. Once through to the far end of Oceania, museum goers are greeted with the impressive Ceremonial House Ceiling (below), comprised of more than 270 painted panels made by Kwoma artists in the village of Mariwai, Papua New Guinea, for The Met in the early 1970s.

Adjacent to the large Oceania gallery at the south end of the wing is an equally large gallery devoted to the Arts of Ancient Americas, which also has darkened galleries under the low ceilings. The large gallery can also be accessed by the corridor adjacent to the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing (above), which is home to modern and contemporary art but will be closing next year for the construction of the Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing designed by Frida Escobedo. Gaillard, from The Met, pointed out that, even though the corridor will be going away with the forthcoming project, the Rockefeller Wing will be more seamlessly connected with the Tang Wing when it is done in 2030.

Given that The Met is a New York City Landmark, the glass facade designed by Roche and Dinkeloo could not be dramatically altered. In lieu of the shades previously used, new triple-pane glazing with seven coatings, including a bird frit, was installed to ensure the right color rendering for the artworks. Direct sunlight does not enter through the upper panes, but the lowest one is clear to allow views from the galleries to Central Park; in the morning and evenings when the museum is closed, shades are deployed at the bottom to protect the art. Furthermore, any light-sensitive artworks in the vitrines are protected by vinyl coatings.