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Map: 10 SF Cultural Institutions Undergoing Major Renovations

Because a growing city cannot live on a major modern art expansion alone

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renovation-week

It's still Renovation Week, and why should SFMOMA have all of the fun? San Francisco's other cultural centers are just as keen to be changing, expanding, and refining who and what they are (and for that matter, where they are).

So we've mapped out a few of the places where our mass cultural horizons are expanding (on a square footage basis) in the near future.

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Asian Art Museum Expansion

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The Asian Art Museum celebrates its 50th birthday this year, but it doesn't look a day over 13. That's how long it's been in its present, Civic Center location, the onetime library building overhauled by the late, great Gae Aulenti. Don't worry, the renovation doesn't mean they're doing away with the Aulenti building. Rather, they're just building off of it, a 12,000 square foot pavilion front Hyde Street, designed by Kulapat Yantrasast of LA-based wHY architects. The $25 million project should kick off in 2017.

SHN Curran Theatre

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The Curran has been a bulwark of San Francisco's theater scene since 1922...and it was starting to look it. Last time the old place had any work done was 1998, when it was the home of the never-ending local run of "Phantom of the Opera," so owner Carol Hays brought in Perkins & Will to redesign the lobby, bars, and a few other areas, while the classic interior gets gussied up. Rather than being closed for business until 2017, the theater has continued hosting shows even while under the tarp. In fact, critics say the Curran's "Under Construction" series is some of the best work seen in the building in years.

Clay Theater

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The 106-year-old Clay movie palace has survived the coming of television, multiplexes, and Netflix, but it's fallen on hard times lately. In a bid to save itself, the theater plans to acquire a restaurant permit from the city and add table seating, possibly even throwing a beer and wine list into the mix.

Randall Museum

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Since the Randall moved to to Corona Heights Park in 1951, every other museum in the city has had a major move, renovation, or remodel (some more than once). Perhaps stricken with museum envy, the Randall finally made the leap itself last summer, temporarily relocating its collection to the Mission so that the Corona Heights building can get new engineering, ceramics, and nature sciences labs, a "sculptural tree wall," and a new cafe and event space.

GLBT Historical Archives

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The GLBT History Museum on 18th Street in the Castro isn't going anywhere, but the Mission archive is "bursting at the seams," as the society puts it, so they'll be moving the nation's largest repository of LGBT history to shiny and spacious new digs at 989 Market Street--once they raise another $9,000 via Indiegogo, that is.
Daniel Nicoletta

Berggruen Gallery

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Of course, it's really a bummer that the Berggruen Gallery is being priced out of its Grant Street home of 45 years. But the move to their new SoMa space conveniently puts them right across the street from SFMOMA's new Howard Street entrance (and its ginormous Richard Serra sculpture), which conveniently creates a miniature art district all its own when combined with the arrival of New York art giant Gagosian Gallery on Howard as well.

Mexican Museum

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The Mexican Museum's Fort Mason space (its home since 2001) has always been a slightly awkward fit. But come 2018, it will move into a brand new, designer home right around the corner from SFMOMA and across the yard from the Jewish Contemporary Museum, a gleaming glass cube four stories tall and 52,000 square feet (seven times the space of their present home).
Ten Arquitecos

SFSU Hunters Point

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We're still not sure precisely where in the former shipyard the university wants to put down roots, but the plan is for 20,000-30,000 square feet of new campus to appear. We haven't heard much about the proposal lately, but a university spokesman assures us it's still go, even if the details are fuzzy.
You know all about this one by now. But we're still just too excited to leave it off the list.
Patricia Chang

Bayview Opera House

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The original San Francisco theater is now two years into a $5.3 million revamp. The circa 1888 building is getting a new garden and additional outdoor theater, and a facelift to the grand old building itself.

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Asian Art Museum Expansion

The Asian Art Museum celebrates its 50th birthday this year, but it doesn't look a day over 13. That's how long it's been in its present, Civic Center location, the onetime library building overhauled by the late, great Gae Aulenti. Don't worry, the renovation doesn't mean they're doing away with the Aulenti building. Rather, they're just building off of it, a 12,000 square foot pavilion front Hyde Street, designed by Kulapat Yantrasast of LA-based wHY architects. The $25 million project should kick off in 2017.

SHN Curran Theatre

The Curran has been a bulwark of San Francisco's theater scene since 1922...and it was starting to look it. Last time the old place had any work done was 1998, when it was the home of the never-ending local run of "Phantom of the Opera," so owner Carol Hays brought in Perkins & Will to redesign the lobby, bars, and a few other areas, while the classic interior gets gussied up. Rather than being closed for business until 2017, the theater has continued hosting shows even while under the tarp. In fact, critics say the Curran's "Under Construction" series is some of the best work seen in the building in years.

Clay Theater

The 106-year-old Clay movie palace has survived the coming of television, multiplexes, and Netflix, but it's fallen on hard times lately. In a bid to save itself, the theater plans to acquire a restaurant permit from the city and add table seating, possibly even throwing a beer and wine list into the mix.

Randall Museum

Since the Randall moved to to Corona Heights Park in 1951, every other museum in the city has had a major move, renovation, or remodel (some more than once). Perhaps stricken with museum envy, the Randall finally made the leap itself last summer, temporarily relocating its collection to the Mission so that the Corona Heights building can get new engineering, ceramics, and nature sciences labs, a "sculptural tree wall," and a new cafe and event space.

GLBT Historical Archives

The GLBT History Museum on 18th Street in the Castro isn't going anywhere, but the Mission archive is "bursting at the seams," as the society puts it, so they'll be moving the nation's largest repository of LGBT history to shiny and spacious new digs at 989 Market Street--once they raise another $9,000 via Indiegogo, that is.
Daniel Nicoletta

Berggruen Gallery

Of course, it's really a bummer that the Berggruen Gallery is being priced out of its Grant Street home of 45 years. But the move to their new SoMa space conveniently puts them right across the street from SFMOMA's new Howard Street entrance (and its ginormous Richard Serra sculpture), which conveniently creates a miniature art district all its own when combined with the arrival of New York art giant Gagosian Gallery on Howard as well.

Mexican Museum

The Mexican Museum's Fort Mason space (its home since 2001) has always been a slightly awkward fit. But come 2018, it will move into a brand new, designer home right around the corner from SFMOMA and across the yard from the Jewish Contemporary Museum, a gleaming glass cube four stories tall and 52,000 square feet (seven times the space of their present home).
Ten Arquitecos

SFSU Hunters Point

We're still not sure precisely where in the former shipyard the university wants to put down roots, but the plan is for 20,000-30,000 square feet of new campus to appear. We haven't heard much about the proposal lately, but a university spokesman assures us it's still go, even if the details are fuzzy.

SFMOMA

You know all about this one by now. But we're still just too excited to leave it off the list.
Patricia Chang

Bayview Opera House

The original San Francisco theater is now two years into a $5.3 million revamp. The circa 1888 building is getting a new garden and additional outdoor theater, and a facelift to the grand old building itself.