Archinect - News

Archinect's critical round-up of Snøhetta's SFMOMA addition

2016-05-04T13:19:00-04:00

While not open to the public until May 14, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has officially unveiled its completed redesign to the press: a massive, iceberg-like addition by Snøhetta, conjoined to the original Mario Botta pomo building.

The redesign is a boon to exhibition space in the museum: Snøhetta's 235,000-square-foot expansion more than doubles the space of the original building, and allows for "art-filled free-to-the-public galleries". In total, that amounts to more gallery space than what the eastern-coast's MoMA has. While much of Botta's original building was left more or less the same, the staircase in the entrance atrium was adapted by Snøhetta to adjust to a projected increase in visitor traffic.

Julia Ingalls attended the press preview; look for her take later this week. Meanwhile, here's what the other critics are saying:

Christopher Hawthorne for the Los Angeles Times is at once pleased by Snøhetta's design and disappointed by the new museum writ large:

Around back...

Archinect's critical round-up of Los Angeles' Broad Museum

2015-09-23T15:50:00-04:00

From a super-sized cheese grater, to a contraceptive sponge, to an inadvertent fun house ride, the critics have thoroughly analogized the new Broad museum in mostly positive (if occasionally biting) reviews. To follow up with Amelia's review, published earlier today, we offer some other critical perspectives on LA's latest architectural landmark.

The L.A. Times' Christopher Hawthorne frames the museum's relative success principally in terms of the political and physical struggle it took to realize it (Broad is currently suing the structure's skin fabricators for what he claims were costly, time-delaying fabrication errors). "It wouldn't be fair to say that the museum, which has moments of real charm, buckles under the burden of those expectations and conflicts. But in a number of places, including its surprisingly punchless facade, it shows the considerable strain of holding up that weight."

Hawthorne also reflects on the building in terms of Diller Scofidio + Renfro's overall body of...