The Kenneth C. Griffin Exploration Atrium defines a striking fourth entrance to the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan.
Photographer: Iwan Baan/AMNH
In the Heart of Manhattan, a Natural Wonder Arrives
The American Museum of Natural History’s $465 million Gilder Center makes a case for architectural spectacle, even as it helps unlock a problematic past.
With its arching bridges and ovoid cutouts, the atrium at the heart of the new wing of New York City’s American Museum of Natural History might remind some visitors of the acrobatic rock formations found in the canyonlands of the American West. For others, the sensuously curved walls and vaulted ceilings might evoke bones and muscles.
I see the space, formally known as the Kenneth C. Griffin Exploration Atrium, as the body of a jellyfish or octopus, stretching its tentacle-like corridors in all directions. From every vantage point, the atrium displays a different chiaroscuro of daylight and shadow, urging the visitor to wander in search of what is hidden.