Snohetta’s San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Expansion to Break Ground this Summer

The <a href="http://www.sfmoma.org/">San Francisco Museum of Modern Art</a> just unveiled preliminary design details for its <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/snohettas-glittering-atrium-pavilion-caps-off-the-subterranean-911-museum/" target="_blank">Snohetta</a>-designed expansion. The 225,000-square-foot addition will run along the existing museum building designed by Mario Botta to provide <a href="http://inhabitat.com/sfmoma-funds-new-firehouse-in-exchange-for-city-land-for-snohetta-designed-expansion/snohetta-sfmoma2/" target="_blank">SFMoMA</a> with more room for its programs and double the exhibition space. It will also provide public access to a hidden area behind the fortress-like museum building and establish a stronger connection with the city’s urban fabric.

The expansion will be accessible from two sides aligning with the new Transbay Transit Center being built two blocks away from the museum.

The sloped expansion will be fifty feet higher than the neighboring Botta building.

The upper levels of the addition will be pulled back to create terraces, opening the space between the two museum building to receive more sunlight and facilitate additional spaces for visitors.

The building will feature a street level gallery towards Howard Street which will be enclosed in glass from three sides.

The exhibitions will be visible from the outside.

The construction of SFMOMA’s expansion is expected to start in summer of 2013, with the reopening of the museum planned for 2016.