Problems With Met Museum’s New Plan
Tear it down, but don’t go messing up Central Park. That’s the emerging consensus about the Metropolitan Museum’s just-confirmed plans to renovate (or tear down) its Lila Acheson Wallace Wing to showcase better its burgeoning collection of modern art. Justin Davidson comments on Met director Thomas Campbell’s suggestion that the Met wants to open the museum toward Central Park and create a new entrance: ‘That would draw more crowds into the park, disturbing the verdant peace, and also eat up a big chunk of the potential gallery space with a new lobby, coat check, security, ticketing, and information desk. The current building, Campbell told the Times, “turns the museum’s back on the park.†There’s a very good reason for that: The Met is in Central Park but not part of it.’ Exactly. Trust me, the Met ain’t gonna get its new entrance in the park.
