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Our Expansion

After a three-year closure, the newly transformed and expanded San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) opened its doors to the public on May 14, 2016. Purpose-built to showcase the museum’s celebrated collection, the new SFMOMA was designed by renowned architecture firm Snøhetta. With nearly three times more gallery space than before, the museum opened with 19 inaugural exhibitions, including a curated selection from the distinguished Doris and Donald Fisher Collection, the first presentation of works promised through the Campaign for Art, nearly a full floor devoted to the Pritzker Center for Photography, cherished favorites from SFMOMA’s permanent collection, and works specially commissioned for the new museum. SFMOMA now includes nearly 45,000 square feet of art-filled free public spaces, and offers free admission for all visitors 18 and younger in perpetuity.

Building Expansion Designed by Snøhetta
Architecture
 A crowd cheers and confetti flies as a line of people in suits and hard hats break ground at the SFMOMA construction site
The Campaign to Transform SFMOMA

See How We’ve Grown

A crowd cheers and confetti flies as a line of people in suits and hard hats break ground at the SFMOMA construction site
An overhead shot shows five construction workers laying a concrete foundation
Steel beams form the beginnings of a staircase with construction workers wearing hardhats
Construction workers install a tree at the topping out ceremony
Large bronze sculptural coils are transported along a city street
A cavernous room with an undulating white ceiling
Crates sit behind a red rope in an empty gallery
View of SFMOMA from Howard Street
May 2013: Confetti flies at the groundbreaking ceremony celebrating the start of expansion construction. Photo: © Drew Altizer Photography
January 2014: From the ground up — approximately 3,500 cubic yards of concrete makes up the slab foundation for the expanded building. Photo: © Henrik Kam
May 2014: The foundations of our expansive new stair that leads from the Floor 2 ticketing area to the level above. Photo: © Henrik Kam
August 2014: The steel outline of the expanded museum approaches its highest point.The completed expansion adds approximately 235,000 square feet to the existing building over ten floors. Photo: © Henrik Kam
September 2014: At our topping out celebration, friends, neighbors, community leaders, and the construction team cheered a major milestone — reaching the highest point of the expanded building’s structural steel outline — with a ceremonial beam raising, complete with the traditional tree atop. Photo: © Henrik Kam
February 2015: Richard Serra’s 2006 sculpture — 12 Cor-ten steel plates, 213 tons, and some 42 by 67 by 13 feet overall — arrives on-site, taking up residence in the new Howard Street gallery, which will be free to the public when the museum reopens. Photo: © Henrik Kam
May 2015: The (soon-to-be) Floor 5 galleries looking towards Howard Street. Photo: © Henrik Kam
February 2016: Art begins to move into the building. Photo: © Henrik Kam
May 2016: The new SFMOMA opened its doors on May 14, 2016.
Stories from the Expansion
Take a look inside the new SFMOMA. From photos of our building looking like our collection to stories about the fabrication of the locally produced facade, stay up to date with our expansion in preparation for our opening on May 14, 2016.
View of the 3rd Street entrance to the new SFMOMA
Yellow and orange squares next to a yellow hallway receding into perspective
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Site Imitates Art
A drill is positioned atop an undulating white panel
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Made in the Bay Area
Two women in glasses, hard hats, and bright orange constrction vests stand arm in arm
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Then and Now: Artist Janet Delaney revisits and rephotographs historic Flag Makers sign
An aerial view of the new Snohetta-designed expansion
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Our Expansion
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