San Francisco’s biggest cultural institutions seem to have hit a growth spurt lately, and the Asian Art Museum wants to get in on the action with a 12,000 foot expansion announced back in March.
Since 200 Larkin Street is a historic building that’s been home to several landmark institutions (before the museum, it was the site of the Main Library), the city will demand a delicate hand from the chosen architects, New York and LA-based wHY.
First stop: the Architectural Review Committee, a subgroup of the Historic Preservation Commission, which will review wHY’s initial proposal this Wednesday. The pitch as-is calls for a one-story vertical addition, a big, spidery canopy, some minor alterations to existing, non-historical parts of the building, and possibly a roof terrace.
Note that these renderings below may not reflect the final plan.
Museum board members put up most of the $25 million price tag themselves. Hallman says that the new designs are meant to be a riff on existing building elements, like the vaulted ceiling and Roman cross windows.
Construction is tentatively set for 2017.
(Two proposed versions of the facade.)
- Agenda, July 13 meeting [Historic Preservation Commission]
- Asian Museum Plans Expansion [Curbed SF]