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For the first 60 years of SFMOMA's existence, the Museum was housed in the Beaux Arts–style War Memorial Veterans Building, located in San Francisco's Civic Center. In January 1995 the Museum celebrated its 60th anniversary by opening a new building. The Museum's current building on Third Street was designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta, representing Botta’s first U.S. project and first museum; Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum, Inc. served as the architect of record. The 225,000-square-foot building, one of the largest new American art museums of the decade and the second largest single structure in the United States devoted to modern art, replaces the Museum’s former location at the War Memorial Veterans Building. The Museum is located in San Francisco’s downtown south of Market area (SOMA) and is surrounded by residential and business developments as well as numerous other cultural institutions, including the Center for the Arts at Yerba Buena Gardens.
Mario Botta, an internationally acclaimed architect based in Lugano, Switzerland, conceived a building for SFMOMA in the tradition of Modernist design. The building features an impressive stepped-back brick-and-stone facade that is distinguished by a soaring truncated cylinder emerging from the roof. To the rear, the building consists of a five-story tower that houses galleries as well as Museum offices. The sides of the rear of the building have been designed to allow for expansion so that anticipated needs for additional gallery space and program development can be suitably accommodated in the future. In the architect’s signature style, the tower is finished in alternating bands of black and white stone and topped with a radial pattern of the same contrasting stone. A distinctly detailed pattern and texture is featured in the building’s burnt-sienna brick facade. The building on Third Street, since flanked by two high-rise towers, offers a striking and distinctive architectural landmark for San Francisco. In the January 1995 issue of San Francisco Focus, architecture critic Allan Temko praised SFMOMA's new building as extraordinary, majestic, a triumph, exquisite, at times technically beyond praise, and “one of the best museum buildings of our time.”
Reflecting the influence of architect Louis I. Kahn, the building is flooded with natural light and offers generous open spaces. The full-height central atrium court illuminated by the skylit cylinder is a key feature of the interior space. In addition, the skylit roofs offer generous natural light to the galleries. Visitors are drawn from the ground floor atrium court up to the four floors of galleries via a grand staircase. The first gallery floor, with 16-foot ceilings, houses selections from the permanent collection and provides space for the architecture and design program. An intimate second gallery floor displays photographs and works on paper. The top two gallery floors, with lofty 18- and 23.5-foot ceilings, accommodate special temporary exhibitions and large-scale contemporary art from the Museum’s permanent collection. A bank of three elevators located at the rear of the atrium court serves to transport the Museum’s visitors to the galleries. Within the structure, 50,000 square feet are dedicated to galleries—doubling the Museum’s previous space. Included in this space are three very large galleries of approximately 7,500 square feet each and over 20 galleries ranging from 500 to 3,500 square feet. In addition to the galleries, the building houses numerous other public areas that significantly enhance the diverse functions of the Museum. Located on the ground floor and opening off the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Atrium is the 280-seat Phyllis Wattis Theater that accommodates lectures, symposia, seminars, film presentations and performances; The Schwab Room, a multiple-use event space; the MuseumStore; and Caffé Museo. On October 12, 2002, the Museum unveiled the 7,000 square foot Koret Visitor Education Center. Situated at the heart of the Museum adjacent to the galleries on the second floor, it is the only educational facility at an American art museum to offer drop-in public access as well as a full calendar of scheduled programs and activities. The lower level provides a photography and graphic arts study area to visiting specialists and artists. Additionally, the Museum’s library, housing over 65,000 books, catalogues and periodicals, is available to the general public by appointment. This level also includes a classroom with seating capacity for 100, art storage, receiving and handling space and mechanical rooms to house state-of-the-art climate control systems that provide crucial temperature and humidity controls necessary for the safety of works of art. The Museum also provides state-of-the-art facilities for art conservation. SFMOMA’s conservation studio, internationally recognized as a leader in the conservation of 20th-century art, is located on the fourth floor in the rear of the building. Museum staff offices are also located in the rear of the building, which houses three floors of office space (on floors two through four) and the fifth-floor gallery, accessible by a translucent bridge. Botta’s design for SFMOMA is a prominent feature in one of San Francisco’s most culturally engaging and architecturally rich corridors comprising an array of outstanding buildings designed by architects of international renown. Directly opposite the new Museum on Third Street, are the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts' Galleries and Forums Building, designed by Fumihiko Maki, and Theater, a comprehensive performing arts complex designed by James Stewart Polshek. Both opened in October 1993. A five-acre esplanade garden designed by Romaldo Giurgola and located atop the expanded Moscone Convention Center opened in 1994. The garden features the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, designed by artist Houston Conwill. SFMOMA’s Third Street building reflects the combined efforts of architect Mario Botta; the San Francisco office of the firm Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum, Inc., the architect of record; Bechtel International Company, the project manager; and Swinerton & Walberg Company, the general contractor. |
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