Kevin Roche: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Sackler Wing: Image courtesy of Scott Norsworthy
-Secret Lives Presents-
Kevin Roche at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Tuesday, September 25, 2013 at 2 p.m.
The redesign and impending reconstruction of the Fifth Avenue entrance plaza at the Metropolitan Museum of Art appears to signal the end of a 45-year long series of design commissions at the Met by the firm of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates.
In 1967 KRJDA was selected to prepare a master plan for expansion of the museum. Since then, they have designed a series of major additions including the Robert Lehman Wing (1975), the Sackler Wing housing the temple of Dendur (1978), and the American Wing (1980), as well as scores of interior renovations, most recently the New American Wing Galleries for Paintings, Sculpture and Decorative Arts (2012), totaling almost fifty separate projects in all.
A perhaps under-recognized aspect of these additions and renovations is the extent to which they reflect the design principles and highlight elements of the museum’s earlier historic architecture.
Kyle Johnson, HDC Adviser and guest curator of the recent exhibition on Kevin Roche at the Museum of the City of New York, will lead a tour of Roche’s work at the Met, highlighting the underlying planning principles and preservation aspects.
Join the Historic Districts Council and Kyle Johnson for this special event to hear the details and see the work of Kevin Roche.