One of New York’s most important museum projects is officially underway — and a Mexican architect is behind it.

On September 15, 2026, The Metropolitan Museum of Art broke ground on the new Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing for modern and contemporary art, designed by Mexico City-born architect Frida Escobedo. When it’s completed, she’ll become the first woman to design a wing in The Met’s 156-year history.

The project is enormous, but Escobedo’s approach is surprisingly restrained. Rather than compete with the museum’s many architectural eras, the five-story addition is designed to connect them. A limestone celosía, or lattice screen, will wrap parts of the exterior, filtering daylight while nodding to an architectural language that shows up across cultures and centuries far beyond this one building.

Inside, 69,500 square feet of exhibition space will expand The Met’s modern and contemporary galleries by nearly 50 percent. Ceiling heights will shift between intimate rooms and spaces built to hold monumental installations, while new terraces and outdoor areas create fresh sightlines onto Central Park. In total, the redesigned wing spans 126,000 square feet.

For Escobedo, it’s another milestone in a career that’s moved steadily between Mexico and the international stage. She founded her studio in Mexico City in 2006, designed the Serpentine Pavilion in London in 2018, and is currently serving as associate designer, alongside Moreau Kusunoki, on the renovation of the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Now her architectural language is being written into one of New York’s defining cultural institutions. The new Tang Wing is expected to open in 2030.

Photos: Courtesy of The Met