The Brooklyn-based firm Peterson Rich Office (PRO) has been selected by The Metropolitan Museum of Art for a major transformation to the institution’s historic locale on “Museum Mile” in New York City.

At The Met, PRO will design a new special exhibition gallery and reimagine the Museum’s dining and retail spaces, along with its street-level entrance at 83rd Street and Fifth Avenue, a press release stated. Beyer Blinder Belle Architects will serve as the project’s executive architects.

Still in the planning phase, the current Met Store next to the Great Hall will host a new, 11,500-square-foot gallery that will annually exhibit The Costume Institute’s annual spring show, among other events by curatorial departments. A major renovation at The Met’s 83rd Street and Fifth Avenue entrance will simultaneously allow for easier public access.

Since the 19th century, a bouillabaisse of famous architects have contributed to the McKim, Mead, and White–designed; Beaux Arts; two-million-square-foot edifice on Central Park.

In 1971, a comprehensive architectural plan for The Met by Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo Associates was approved. It was subsequently completed in 1991, yielding the glass, pyramidal home to the Temple of Dendur and several galleries. The Met’s Arts of Korea gallery opened in 1998, following a design by architect Kyu Sung Woo. In 1999, the renovated Ancient Near Eastern Galleries reopened to the public, followed by the New Greek Galleries and the Cypriot Galleries shortly after.

More recently, contemporary designers have been solicited to oversee important additions to The Met including Frida Escobedo, Nader Tehrani, and Kulapat Yantrasast. NADAAA was tapped in 2022 to reimagine the Ancient Near Eastern and Cypriot galleries and Escobedo was sought for a complete overhaul of The Met’s modern art exhibition spaces. The art institution recently opened a new children’s library, by New York office KOKO Architecture + Design, located off The Met’s 81st Street entrance.

“We are honored to be a part of a long lineage of architects working within such an iconic New York, and uniquely American, institution,” said Miriam Peterson and Nathan Rich, PRO’s cofounders, in a statement. “It is with a sense of great responsibility that we undertake this project, which will be transformative for the museum’s public realm, the Costume Institute, and The Met’s special exhibition spaces.”

Funding to fulfill PRO’s contribution to The Met is in the campaign stage. Met Trustee Anna Wintour has assumed a leadership role in helping to secure the necessary capital from donors.

The new gallery by PRO is expected for completion in 2026. More details about the project’s timeline and design will be shared in the coming months.