The Metropolitan Museum of Art is moving forward with ambitious plans for a massive renovation and redesign of the New York museum's Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. Devoted to Africa, Oceania and the Americas, the forty-thousand-square-foot wing will be designed by the architect Kulapat Yantrasast and his firm wHY, and is expected to complete in 2023.

Over the years, Yantrasast's practice has built up a reputation for their modern and open art spaces. Their portfolio of projects includes the Speed Art Museum in Kentucky, Michigan's Grand Rapids Art Museum, and the Marciano Art Foundation in Los Angeles. His previous works at the Harvard Art Museums and at the Art Institute of Chicago, in particular, attracted the attention of the team at the Met. Currently, Mr. Yantrasast is working on the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, as well as a youth arts center in neighboring Oakland. 

"I love art and I love discoveries," says Yantrasast. "For that reason, I really think of myself as a matchmaker who connects and provides unique encounters and discoveries between people and artworks. It is a personal joy to work with great artists and curators, beyond being a lifelong passion and lesson for me.”

The $70 million renovation—for which about one-third of the funds have already been raised—allows the opportunity to address issues of wear and tear to the museum's south side, which has been inconvenienced by condensation on the glass and excessive light. 

But, the goals of the renovation are also focused on better showcasing the department's massive collection, which altogether covers more than 3/4 of the world. Rather than having the sections run into each other, Yantrasast wants to create clear and discrete areas for the three regions represented in the department. Each portal, as he describes, will be inspired by the architectural impression of its corresponding location. 

Upon opening in 1982, the Rockefeller Wing was crucial in defining the Met as an encyclopedic fine arts museum. Since, "AAOA's curatorial team has been presenting groundbreaking exhibitions of non-Western art that reflect new research," says the Department's Curator in Charge, Alisa LaGamma. The upgraded layout will allow for the galleries to tell distinct narratives about each region while rethinking and reframing the relationships between them. 

"The renovation of this suite of galleries will make a unique and timely civic contribution to our community" says Met CEO Daniel H. Weiss, pointing out that the Africa and Americas collections alone represents the heritage of half of New York City's residents. It will also, he adds, "immeasurably enrich and deepen appreciation of a vast swath of the world's artistic dynamism."