“Snøhetta, the architecture firm designing the museum at the World Trade Center site [and behind the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet building above], is the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s choice to design its new wing – a $250 million expansion likely to be the city’s largest private project between now and the scheduled opening of 2016.”
∙ Snøhetta to design SFMOMA’s vast new wing [SFGate]
∙ SFMOMA Expansion: Four Firms (Including A Foster) In The Running [SocketSite]
∙ SFMOMA Snags The Fisher Contemporary Art Collection [SocketSite]
Great choice! I saw the Opera House when I was in Oslo, and it is stunning!
http://snoarc.no/#/projects/15/true/all/image/876/
“…the city’s largest private project”? What about CPMC Cathedral Hill? SFMOMA isn’t even the largest private project on today’s Socketsite.
This is good news. Snøhetta is known for their context sensitive designs as you can see from the National Opera building above which directly relates to the iced over harbor. And check out their Sheik Zayed museum design for Abu Dhabi which is amazing. Though I imagine that they’ll have a hard time keeping the local skateboarders away 🙂
Snøhetta’s designs often reflect the natural environment and it will be interesting what they key off of in urban SF.
John King comments that EHDD may not be the local firm, since they are already doing the Berkeley ArtMuseum. EHDD really would be the best choice, based on their history and overall excellence. Why does anyone think they cannot do both museums at the same time?
I would hope that EHDD could be the local firm they team up with..outstanding choice.
Excellent pick for SFMOMA!
Snohetta’s projects are fresh & thoughtful and -as it happens – they all look different from one another… a sign that fertile minds are at work.
For the local: Studios Architecture would be my pick. They’ve delivered more architecurally ambitious projects than EHDD has. The latter has it down with the universities, yet it all looks respectably 2nd rate in the end.
I definitely like what I’ve seen from Snøhetta. My one concern (and this could just be an indication of my ignorance) is that I haven’t seen any examples of infill work from them, although they do have many great examples of integrating the structure into the surrounding area.
I’ve never liked the work of Studios…mostly trendy, flashy, very photogenic and publishable..but don’t think it will become timeless work.
As for EHDD. there work and portfolio has remained timeless and modern over many decades..the work is solid, humane and elegant.
As previously noted, its a good thing that no two of Snoetta’s buildings are at all similar, because their Norweigan Opera/ Ballet is an ill concieved, inhumain eye-sore. Their library project is far superior.
I do hope that we get something that is refined and distinct design that simultaneously harmonizes with the existing museum. That is a tall challenge for any architect. Hopefully EHDD can stear them in the right direction since their projects can be unique and timeless.