Construction has begun for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing. Scheduled to open in 2030, it will house the New York institution’s modern and contemporary art collection. 

The roughly 12,000-square-meter addition, which expands the current wing’s exhibition space by nearly 50%, has been made possible through the patronage of Chinese-born businessman Oscar Tang (a trustee of The Met since 1994) and his wife, the Taiwan-born archaeologist and art historian Agnes Hsu-Tang. The couple donated USD 125 million to the project in 2021, making it the largest monetary gift ever granted to the museum. 

The new wing will feature a stepped, five-story structure, maximizing the use of natural light through a latticed celosía façade that will respond to the movement of the sun throughout the day. It will also provide greater access to the nearby Central Park and New York’s Upper East Side, better situating the museum within its surroundings. The project will be fronted by Mexican architect Frida Escobedo—the first woman to design a wing for The Met in its 156-year history—who previously designed the 2018 Serpentine Pavilion in London and will co-design Paris’s Centre Pompidou 2030 renovation. 

At the groundbreaking ceremony on September 15, which was attended by Escobedo and various museum, city, and state officials, the Tangs remarked that Escobedo’s design “thoughtfully captures the spirit of the Museum’s important mission and will be a dynamic addition that is both timely and enduring to The Met and to New York City.”

Harison Butler is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.