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San Francisco Museum of Modern Art expansion detail

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) today announced further details of its approximately 235,000-square-foot building expansion. When the new museum opens in 2016, it will provide a greater art experience for visitors and support SFMOMA’s increasing role in city life and the international art community, with more free-to-the-public space, expanded education programs for schoolchildren, more flexible galleries to accommodate live performances and large-scale works of art, and field-leading contributions to global standards of energy efficiency for art museums.


San Francisco Museum of Modern Art expansion rendering: courtesy MIR and Snøhetta

Developed in collaboration with the architecture firm Snøhetta, SFMOMA’s new building will include seven levels dedicated to diverse art experiences and programming spaces, and three housing enhanced support space for the museum’s operations. It will also offer approximately 130,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor gallery space, as well as nearly 15,000 square feet of art-filled free-access public space, more than doubling SFMOMA’s current capacity for the presentation of art while maintaining a sense of intimacy and connection to the museum’s urban surroundings. The expansion will also include other new features, such as:

· A large-scale vertical garden located in a new outdoor sculpture terrace on the third floor, which will be the biggest public living wall of native plants in San Francisco

· A versatile, double-height “white box” space on the fourth floor equipped with cutting-edge lighting and sound systems that, in tandem with the museum’s upgraded Phyllis Wattis Theater, will open new doors for SFMOMA’s program of live art, and also improve services for school-group tours, film screenings, and special events

· State-of-the-art conservation studios on the seventh and eighth floors that will further SFMOMA’s progressive work in the care and interpretation of its growing collections

· An environmentally sensitive approach on track to achieve LEED Gold certification, with 15% energy-cost reduction, 30% water-use reduction, and 20% reduction in wastewater generation

· A new outdoor terrace on the seventh floor with incredible city views, further integrating the urban indoor/outdoor experience that SFMOMA began in 2009 with the opening of its current rooftop sculpture garden on the fifth floor

Visit www.sfmoma.org or call 415.357.4000 for more information.

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