The internationally-acclaimed architecture firm Snøhetta has recently been selected to design two new art spaces in Australia and United States. Snøhetta will create the new Heysen Art Gallery in Adelaide- a rammed earth structure blending into the landscape and housing the works of renowned artists Hans and Nora Heysen. The studio was also selected to lead the expansion and re-design project for Dartmouth College Hopkins Center for the Arts, a vital creative hub for the New England Region.
The story of the new Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco combines a number of compelling storylines: the expansion of a major museum to become the biggest space dedicated to modern art in the country; a new headline project for the much-lauded architectural firm Snøhetta; and the alteration (or lobotomization, depending on who you ask) of a modern classic in Mario Botta's original 1995 building. As such, it's been a big talking point recently, as the museum plans to reopen this Sunday.
However, while the media has talked a lot about galleries, external appearances and staircases, much less has been said of the project's innovative combined lighting and HVAC system, efficient six-layer windows and unprecedented use of fiber-reinforced-plastic on a building so tall. Enter WIRED, whose impressive article on the building takes us on a guided tour of the more technical aspects of the project, using a 3D model as a guide. Read their article in full here.
Shoehorned into the narrow space behind Mario Botta’s 1995 building, the Snøhetta-designed new wing of the SFMOMA was forced to go where few museums have gone before: up. Rising 10 stories into the San Francisco skyline, the new building nearly triples the amount of existing gallery space and adds a new entrance into what is now one of the world’s largest buildings dedicated to modern art. As the museum is set to reopen to the public May 14th, the critics' takes are rolling in. Did the restrictive site inspire a unique design solution or limit the creative possibilities of the project? Read on to find out.
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The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has topped out its Snøhetta-designed extension, marking the halfway point in the museum’s transformation. Rising behind SFMOMA’s existing Mario Botta-designed building, the 10-story addition will add more than triple the amount of gallery space, 130,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor galleries, flexible performance art spaces and a dramatically expanded education program for students and teachers upon completion in 2016.
More images after the break...
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