SFMOMA Expansion Fact Sheet

Project Overview

Like the San Francisco Bay Area, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) has a long history of bold vision and innovation. From its founding in 1935 to the opening of its Mario Botta-designed building in 1995, SFMOMA has taken one imaginative step after another. The museum was the first to showcase a little-known artist named Jackson Pollock, and among the first to envision its current South of Market neighborhood as a vibrant, 24/7 arts-and-culture destination.

Now, SFMOMA is expanding to support the tremendous growth of its programs and audiences over the past 15 years and to showcase its expanded permanent collection, which includes the Fisher Collection—one of the finest collections of modern and contemporary art in the world—and other major gifts to the museum through the recent Collections Campaign.

Designed by acclaimed architecture firm Snøhetta in collaboration with SFMOMA, the new building will feel more open, and help deepen the museum's role as an important part of city life. The project will join the existing Mario Botta-designed building with a new, approximately 235,000-square-foot, 10-story expansion that spans from Minna to Howard Streets.

It will also offer approximately 140,000 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 the current capacity for the presentation of art while maintaining a sense of intimacy and connection to the museum's urban surroundings. New public spaces and additional public entrances to the building (on Howard and Minna Streets) are also designed to increase access and weave the museum more deeply into the neighborhood. The expanded museum will reopen to the public in 2016.

Beyond the physical extension of the building, the project represents a transformation of the museum as a whole. By enhancing SFMOMA's programs, collections, and education services, the museum is expanding its role as a place for learning, inspiration, and interaction for residents of the Bay Area and beyond.

Groundbreaking         May 29, 2013
Opening                            2016


Estimated Square Footage:                          

                                                                               2012                                    2016

Campaign Goal: $610 million, which includes $245 million addition to current $100 million endowment

Architectural Features

Components of the project include:

• • Construction of a new 235,000-square-foot addition designed by Snøhetta that runs contiguously along the back of the SFMOMA's current building.

• • Seamless merge with the current Mario Botta-designed building that creates a synthesized whole; removal of the original staircase in the Botta atrium will create an expansive public gathering space on entry level.

• • Mid-block pedestrian pathways at street level that open a new route of circulation in the neighborhood.

• Expansive new free-to-the-public spaces, including a large glass-walled gallery facing Howard Street that will put art on view to passersby for the first time.

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

• 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.

• Upgraded and increased education spaces throughout the building, directly connecting them to the galleries.

• Galleries of differing scale, materials, and lighting specifically designed to showcase a range of art, from photography to installation, video, painting, and sculpture; combined gallery space in the existing and new facility will total some 140,000 square feet, more than doubling the museum's current gallery space.

• Upon completion, three public entrances, making the museum accessible from every direction along the block: the current entrance on Third Street, a revisioned entrance on Minna Street (to better facilitate the arrival of school groups), and a new entrance accessible from both Natoma and Howard Streets, leading into a central entry point to all galleries.

• 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.

• 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

• Reduced environmental impact on track to achieve LEED Gold certification, with a 15% energy-cost reduction, 30% water-use reduction, and 20% reduction in wastewater generation.

Collections Growth

Strategic, ongoing additions to SFMOMA's collection will support expansion plans and transform the visitor experience.

• The museum's internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art includes more than 28,000 works and continues to grow, with strong holdings in photography, painting and sculpture, architecture and design, and media arts.

• In February 2011, an unprecedented 195 promised gifts of art encompassing major works by Diane Arbus, Joseph Beuys, Robert Gober, Eva Hesse, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Bruce Nauman, Jackson Pollock, Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman, and David Smith marked the public launch of SFMOMA's Collections Campaign.

• A century-long agreement with the Fisher family to house and present their renowned collection of contemporary art will allow SFMOMA to share this important resource with the public.

  • Upon completion of SFMOMA's expansion, works from the Fisher Collection will be on display in dedicated galleries and will also be interwoven with SFMOMA's holdings.

  • The Fisher Collection includes some 1,100 works by 185 key artists including Alexander Calder (45 works), Chuck Close (23), Anselm Kiefer (16), Ellsworth Kelly (41), Roy Lichtenstein (24), Agnes Martin (11), Gerhard Richter (23), Richard Serra (14), and Andy Warhol (21).

• Works added to SFMOMA's holdings through the Fisher agreement and Collection Campaign activity enhance its representation of artists it has long championed, such as Matthew Barney, Olafur Eliasson, Eva Hesse, Helen Levitt, and Luc Tuymans, continuing to foster a fertile symbiosis between the museum's collections and exhibitions programs.

Expansion Oversight Committee

Neal Benezra                                        Director, SFMOMA

Charles R. Schwab                              Chairman, SFMOMA Board of Trustees

Bob Fisher                                             President, SFMOMA Board of Trustees

Dennis Wong                                        SFMOMA Board of Trustees

Preston Butcher                                   SFMOMA Board of Trustees

Project Team

Design Architects                                 Craig Dykers and Kjetil Thorsen, Snøhetta

Local Architects                                   Duncan Ballash, EHDD

Project Management                          Terry Reagan and Don Young

General Contractor                             Webcor

Structural Engineer                              MKA

Estimated Construction Economic Impact

Estimated construction jobs to be created                     1,400

Estimated construction payroll                                         $56 million

Projected annual sales and use tax                                  $1.1 million

Value of firehouse gift to City of San Francisco           $10 million

Since SFMOMA's founding in 1935, the museum has drawn nearly 23 million visitors, 50% of them since moving to its current location on Third Street in 1995. Over the past 17 years, San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood has grown up around the museum: new hotels, retail, restaurants, and residential properties were built and continue to thrive, all contributing to the tax base and economic vitality of the city. In 2016, SFMOMA's new home will again transform the neighborhood as a major tourist attraction and as an employer: upon completion of the expansion, SFMOMA anticipates an over 20% increase in employees as well as 20% growth in its audiences, which currently average 650,000 visitors annually. The expansion will also create over 1,400 new jobs in construction and related areas, and SFMOMA will be an even greater economic stimulant when it expands its operations and purchases of goods and services from Bay Area businesses.

Visit sfmoma.org to learn more about the museum's expansion through images and video.

Media contacts:
Jill Lynch, jilynch@sfmoma.org, 415.357.4172
Clara Hatcher, chatcher@sfmoma.org, 415.357.4177

#              #              #