Snøhetta Chosen for $250-Million SFMOMA Expansion

Critically acclaimed architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design firm Snøhetta is the final choice for the 160,000 square foot extension at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

After a shortlist of four firms was announced in May, including the architectural heavyweights Foster + Partners, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Adjaye Associates, the museum’s selection committee was most impressed by Snøhetta’s two largest cultural buildings yet: the Alexandria Library in Egypt and the National Opera and Ballet in Oslo.

Current projects include the Wolfe Center for the Arts at Bowling Green State University, Ohio; the Hunt Library and Institute for Emerging Issues, North Carolina; and the Mutrah Fish Market in Muscat.

In 2004, the company received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and in 2009, it was honored with the Mies van der Rohe Award. Snøhetta is the only company to have twice won the World Architecture Award for best cultural building (2005 and 2009).

Though Snøhetta, with offices in Oslo and New York City, is not new to building in the United States (it currently has the National September 11th Memorial Museum entry pavilion at the World Trade Center site in New York under development), the $250-Million SFMOMA expansion will be the firm's first building on the West Coast.

"It's key to us as an institution that we not become a period piece," said Neal Benezra, SFMOMA's director. "We're committed to maintaining a contemporary visual presence."

The expansion will provide an additional 100,000 square feet of gallery and public space, greatly enhancing and expanding both the presentation of art in all areas of its collections—painting and sculpture, photography, architecture and design, media arts—and its educational programs. The expansion will also include 40,000 square feet of support space, including larger and more advanced conservation facilities and an expanded library.

Current projects include the Wolfe Center for the Arts at Bowling Green State University, Ohio; the Hunt Library and Institute for Emerging Issues, North Carolina; and the Mutrah Fish Market in Muscat.

In 2004, the company received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and in 2009, it was honored with the Mies van der Rohe Award. Snøhetta is the only company to have twice won the World Architecture Award for best cultural building (2005 and 2009).