Preserving history at The Metropolitan Museum of Art through integrated engineering

Façade engineering and design

This European Paintings Skylights Project protected the buildings landmarked design and roofline, while upgrading and incorporating critical project modernizations. Arup designed a technologically advanced glazing system that delivered improvements to daylight quality, thermal efficiency, and weather resilience, while renewing the Museums systems’ longevity.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was constructed at the end of the 19^th century, and similarly with many historic structures, was originally designed to have natural ventilation systems, resulting in drafts and poor temperature regulation. As the Museum upgraded its infrastructure to today’s standards, we were able to strategically reduce the energy consumption while improving climate control of the building with specialized skylight glass and framing.

The new skylights include a low-energy solar control coating with excellent light color quality, that allows optimal daylight to come in for art viewing, while simultaneously rejecting heat from the sun. Arup’s skylights work also resulted in a reduction of air infiltration – improving environmental conditions while also easing energy needs.

The skylight design also considered the new systems weight on the existing structure – being strategic about high performing components within the glass and framework, rather than multiple layers of heavy glass. The team used custom performance mock-up testing to confirm the capacity of the new skylight framing and glazing, even under prolonged snow accumulation or large snow drifts that could arise over the systems lifespan.  

Lighting design

The new skylights deliver softer and better controlled daylight that is more consistent throughout the galleries. The Arup design team performed in-depth daylight analysis and skylight planning to improve the quality of daylight entering the galleries and prioritize the conservation of artwork according to modern standards.

To get the best skylight results, we collaborated on developing a scale model of a sample gallery with accurate glass and daylight control louver systems. This scale model allowed the evaluation of the daylight quality through varying materials and allowed for quantitative testing of seasonal changes, various skylight orientations, and louver system capabilities to ensure the ideal lighting quality for artwork viewing.

The updated skylights have not only improved how the artwork is experienced, but also safeguards the Met's unparalleled collection of European paintings through carefully planned and controlled daylighting, and robust skylights that reduce environmental risks. 

Structural engineering

A key project goal was to ensure that the newly organized catwalks and building systems within the attic space followed appropriate routes to optimize daylight from the skylights to the galleries, with minimal obstruction. The structural engineering team assessed the existing structure and adapted elements, as needed, to support the new skylights, roof updates, and catwalk updates for maintenance and access. Various repairs were also made to the existing structure to further extend its life and accommodate the anchoring and bracing of new elements.

The structural design and analysis were centered around inspecting the existing historical structure for the new loads, and required designing for varying existing conditions, with solutions varying from upper bound and lower bound systems analysis, and techniques not commonly used today, such as yield line analysis.

As the project progressed, demolition also revealed that some areas would require more complex solutions than originally anticipated from the pre-construction site assessment. Each one of the existing historical building expansions had utilized materials and construction techniques from differing eras of construction. As a result, the project encountered complex historical brick masonry, wrought iron, steel, draped wire mesh slabs, hollow clay tile flat arches, and historical steel structure elements. We provided creative solutions to the various existing structural systems that would otherwise hinder progress.

Throughout the design phase, there was a crucial need for site visits to understand the many complex historical geometries of the project. To mitigate excess repetitive visits, the Arup team took 360-degree photos to create a virtual tour of the existing areas. This was developed into an in-house dashboard site with all site visit photos, and existing drawings sorted by gallery wings, floor level, period of construction. The dashboard included a “street view” type navigation method for viewing site photos. This allowed the team to thoroughly refer to design and construction phases and to the pre-existing conditions of the project, to assist in developing the design and carefully assessing adaptations during construction.

We worked in close collaboration with the architects and construction team to deliver modifications and ensure the structural integrity of the new and existing elements were intact, while accommodating practical construction requirements within the complex historical building structure.