To call to mind the waters of the bay, the renovated San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) uses more than 700 uniquely shaped fiberglass reinforced polymer (FRP) panels on its exterior, resulting in a tall, white, and wavy building. To really capture the eye, silicate crystals have been embedded to reflect changing light.
The architecture firm Snøhetta designed a 10-story expansion to the SFMOMA. Along with the new façade, the museum will have 170,000 sf of new and renovated indoor and outdoor gallery space, which triples the previous amount. The galleries are intimate, flexible, and column-free, giving artists more freedom with which to work.
The building has two main entrances, an education center, two restaurants, a coffee shop, a light-filled atrium, a third floor terrace with a public living wall with more than 19,000 plants, and a renovated Phyllis Wattis Theater, which now has a 4K projection screen.
“Our design seeks to create an intimate experience, welcoming a diversity of visitors to the magnificent collection, and fostering a connection between the visitor and museum for years to come,” Craig Dykers, founding partner of Snøhetta and leader of the design team for SFMOMA, said in a statement. “All of the senses will be engaged as part of the experience. Wonderful day lit staircases lead visitors from floor to floor, the galleries create a comfortable viewing experience of the art, and terraces allow for moments of repose, to be reinvigorated by fresh air, sunlight and vistas of the city between galleries. The visitor should sense that the building is inspired by one of the great cities of the world, San Francisco.”
Interactive touch screens have been installed in the painting and sculpture galleries, and a new app gives visitors a guided audio tour through both the museum and the surrounding SoMa neighborhood.
The museum opens May 14. More than $610 million was raised for the project, which has covered construction costs, the endowment, and support for education, art commissioning and exhibition programs.
SFMOMA contains 33,000 works of architecture and design, painting, photography and sculpture. It also has the Doris and Donald Fisher Collection, a private collection of contemporary art featuring pieces by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Tony Cragg.
The museum was established in 1935. Swiss architect Mario Botta designed the museum’s current building, which opened in 1995. The Snøhetta expansion will be added onto it.
SFMOMA. Photo: Henrik Kam, courtesy SFMOMA. Click image to enlarge.
Helen and Charles Schwab Hall. Photo: Henrik Kam, courtesy SFMOMA. Click image to enlarge.
The Campaign for Art Contemporary exhibition. Photo: Iwan Baan, courtesy SFMOMA. Click image to enlarge.
The exterior cladding and the living wall at the Pat and Bill Wilson Sculpture Terrace. Photo: Henrik Kam, courtesy SFMOMA. Click image to enlarge.
Related Stories
Museums | Sep 28, 2017
Tunnel-boring machine will be the centerpiece of a planned 150,000-sf Metro Museum in Wuhan, China
GreenbergFarrow beat out five other design firms for the opportunity to design the museum.
Museums | Sep 15, 2017
Former basketball gym becomes Stanford Athletics ‘Home of Champions’
The Home of Champions uses interactive displays to showcase Stanford’s 126-year history of student athletes.
Museums | Sep 8, 2017
CAF announces plans for 20,000-sf Chicago Architecture Center to be built on East Wacker Drive
The Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill-designed space will open in summer 2018.
Museums | Aug 15, 2017
Underground Railroad Visitor Center tells story of oppression, then freedom
The museum is conceived as a series of abstracted forms made up of two main structures, one administrative and one exhibit.
Museums | Jul 5, 2017
Addition by subtraction: Art Share L.A. renovation strips away its acquired superfluity
The redesign of the 28,000-sf building is prioritizing flexibility, openness, and connectivity.
Building Team Awards | Jun 7, 2017
Rising above adversity: National Museum of African American History and Culture
Gold Award: The Smithsonian Institution’s newest museum is a story of historical and construction resolve.
Architects | Jun 7, 2017
Build your very own version of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum with this new LEGO set
744 LEGO bricks are used to recreate the famous Wright design, including the 1992 addition.
Museums | May 25, 2017
The museum as workspace
Many museum staff are resistant to the idea of open offices.
Architects | May 23, 2017
Queens Museum exhibit shows New York City as it could have been
The installation will showcase 200 years worth of unrealized Big Apple projects via original drawings, renderings, newly commissioned models, and 3D visualizations.
Museums | May 18, 2017
American Writers Museum opens on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue
Amaze Design designed the 10,000-sf space.