SF MOMA

SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

Building analysis by Alessandro Zanghi and Nathan Chudnovsky

SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

San Francisco Mario Botta

Building analysis by Alessandro Zanghi and Nathan Chudnovsky Arch 341, Fall 2018 Lab instructor: Alexander Hirsig

Cover image: Caroline Culler

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1_Project Summary 2_Place 3_Form and Assemblies 4_Perception and Performance 5_References

1) PROJECT SUMMARY PROJECT DATA Location: San Francisco, CA Year of completed construction: 1995 Total area: 225,000 sq ft Total construction cost: $60 million Certifications:

TEAM Client: SF MoMA Architect: Mario Botta Structure: Forell-Elsesser MEP and FP: Flack and Kurtz Consulting Engineers Architect of Record: HOK Lighting: Fisher Marantz Acoustics: Leonard D. Auerback General Contractor: Swinerton and Walberg

1.1 Approach to building entry Photo: Henrik Kam

ARCHITECT PROFILE Mario Botta began his career at age 16 when he designed a two family house at Morbio Superiore in Ticino. While critics of his work found the arrangement of the spaces in the structure to be inconsistent, they stated that the separation of the living and serving spaces, the deep windows and the relationship of the building to the site were indicative of his later work.

Botta has designed a lot buildings during his career, Parish House in Genestrerio, Swisscom Headquarters in Bellinzona, Harting Technologiegruppe Headquarters in Minden, La Fortezza in Maastricht, Watari Museum of Contemporary Art in Shibuya-ku, the SF MoMA in San Francisco, Casino di Campione in Campione d’Italia, the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art in Charlott, the Stadt-und Landesbibliothek in Dortmund, etc. The majority of these projects, with the exception of the Watari Museum of Contemporary, utilize brick in the design of the building. Most of his buildings are postmodern in nature and use bricks to give the facade texture and make the building feel tectonic in nature.

Over time Botta’s style has stayed pretty consistent, however he has ventured into using large glass facades, Stadt-und Landesbibliothek, using large concrete facades, Watari Museum, and more traditional looking buildings, Bodmer Library.

1.2 (l) Watari Museum, 1990: View from street Photo: Go Tokyo

1.3 (r) Bodmer Library, 2003: View of entrance Photo: Foundation Martin Bodmer

1.4 Stadt-und Landesbibliothek, 1999: Glass atrium Photo: Dieter Golland

PROJECT BACKGROUND AND DESIGN PROCESS Mario Botta’s San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is designed as 3 tiers stepped back from the street enclosing a skylighted central cylindar. Botta streesed the social function of this light- filled atrium and its role in clarifying the organization of the plan. A grand staircase will permit a dramatic ascent through the atrium to four floors of galleries, some illuminated by carefully designed rooftop skylights.

“We wanted to create a building that opened toward the city, that was inviting to guests of different walks of life, and adapted to the changing environment of the SoMa district,” “Commercial buildings are tall and vertical. In contrast, our building is as low and horizontal as it can be,” “The museum had to become a landmark, to have iconic strength,” said Botta. His solution was to create a building with simple forms, clear geometry and solid massing – a piece of architecture that would be distinguishable from the “abstract language of downtown buildings,” he said

1.5 Design process: interlocking interior and exterior, material layers Dezeen

Black and White Granite the five-story structure features a stepped and patterned brick facade topped by a soaring cylindrical turret. In the architect's signature style, the turret is finished in alternating bands of black and white stone and topped with a radial pattern of the same material

Oculus Skylight the diagonal skylight funnels light into an atrium with a grand yet compact staircase. Galleries, a library, cafe, and auditorium are organised around the atrium, Botta describes the oculus as a "sort of eye" that puts the building's interior in contact with the

Brick Its various treatments of red brick adorn the exterior stacked boxes of the museum. The material is defining feature of its geometric forms, heavy massing and its “post classical� pre- industrial spirit.

Facade Materials

Massing Model

scale: 1/64” = 1’-0”

MASSING AND CONFIGURATION

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Entry Vestibule Lobby Theater Exhibit Space Egress Stairs Bathroom Coat Check Admin Offices

2 2 1

A

2

5 6

7 2

3

A

6 5

4

4

56

4

6 5

First Floor Plan

5 6

8

4

Fourth Floor Plan

5 6

6 5

4

Second Floor Plan

6 5 5 6 Fifth Floor Plan

4

8 6 5

Third Floor Plan

0’ 50’

100’

200’ Section A-A

Physical Diagram

GRAPHIC SUMMARY

2 1

3

Structure Diagram

Facade Diagram

Daylighting Model

Sefairia Model

Gallery

Gallery

Entrance

Thermal and Ventilation Diagram

Circulation Diagram

Summer Solstice sunrise 5:47am sunset: 8:55 pm

Winter Solstice sunrise 7:21am sunset: 4:55 pm

Egress Diagram

Daylighting Diagram

2_PLACE 44% Renewable Energy

85% Carbon Free

Solar

Wind

Water Supply- Hetch Hetchy 17% SF Energy

Muni Trash and Recology

Trash

The Bay

Southeast, Oceanside, Northpoint Treatment Plant

Landfill Recycling

Compost

REGIONAL RESOURCES San Francisco gets its inputs from a lot of different places. San Francisco gets its water supply from the Hetch Hetchy and the city gets 17% of its energy from this dam. The city gets 44% of its power from renewable energy and 85% of that energy is carbon free. Waste water goes to one of three treatment plants, the Southeast, Oceanside, or Northpoint Treatment Plant and this water is then dumped into the bay.

When it comes to trash this is taken to Muni Trash and Recology where it is then seperated into recycling, compost and landfill.

2.1 Aerial view of San Francisco’s South Park and Financial District Neighborhoods Photo: Google

0’ 50’

100’

200’

CONTEXT The SF MoMA is in between San Francisco’s South Park and Financial Districts and across the street from the Yerba Buena Gardens. The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Contemporary Jewish Museum, Children’s Creativity Museum and the Museum of African Disporia are all within walking distance of the MoMA. There are also a lot of restaurants in the area and a lot of foot traffic in this area.

CLIMATE ANALYSIS AND RESPONSE The climate of San Francisco is close to that of a mediterranean climate, which means it has mainly dry summers and humid mild winters. However, due to the currents of wind off of the Pacific Ocean and the Bay itself this keeps temperature swings in check and creates a pretty consistent mild temperature year round.

The hills and other “sharp” geography in San Francisco creates lots of microclimates throughout the city. This project could’ve tried to incorporate the cool winds coming from the bay to help ventilate the building and could’ve tried to collect rain water to incorporate it into its grey water system.

Summer Solstice sunrise 5:47am sunset: 8:55 pm

Winter Solstice sunrise 7:21am sunset: 4:55 pm

Sun Path Diagram

3_FORM AND ASSEMBLIES

First Floor Plan

Fourth Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan

Fifth Floor Plan Exhibit Space Lobby Theater Third Floor Plan

Admin Offices

PROGRAM The main activity happening in the building is people viewing artwork in these large gallery spaces with a large amount of space devoted to admin offices for the people that work there. All of the gallery spaces are stacked on top of each other on every floor due to the centralized stair. The theater is placed on the ground floor in the back where it’s harder to get light into the building, because the theater doesn’t need natural light. The offices are placed on the middle floors where there is access to the cafe and the exterior terraces. The services spaces, i.e. the offices are hidden in the back of the building where as the spaces intended for visitors take up the majority of the building and are prominent.

3.1 Lobby

Photo: Pamono

3.2 Exhibit Space Photo: Iwan Baan

Exploded Frame Diagram

STRUCTURE The building utilizes a steel frame structure with a concrete slab, steel decking construction. The columns bring the load from the floors above down to the ground through members that extend the entire height of the building. Some of the columns transfer their load to the floor below and distribute that weight to the columns holding that floor up. There are also braced frame walls typically placed at the corners to help reduce lateral forces within the building. The foundation of this building most likely goes down to bedrock, because the building has to support a lot of weight and in San Francisco a building of this size should have a foundation that deep.

3.3 Steel Frame Construction with Concrete Floor Plates SFMoMA Tumblr

Frame Diagram

2 1

3

1 2 3

Red Brick Roof top Skylight Concrete Roof

ENVELOPE: CMU MASONORY WALL AND OCULUS The Architect primarily utilizes materials with a post- classical aesthetic to create his vision of a monumental masterpiece to house the large collections of modern art masterpieces. His material pallete is masonry, not glass or steel, and he uses it to create buildings that are firm heavy massing of pre-industrial feel a contrast to the material Pallete of the interiors which invoke a more warm and eclectic feel. The oculus also lets a lot of light into the central atrium that bleed a bit into the gallery spaces. However, there is no where for heat to escape from the oculus so it begins to build up and heat up the atrium.

3.4 Brick Wall Facade and Oculus Masonry Photos: Dezeen

4_PERCEPTION AND PERFORMANCE

ENERGY ANALYSIS According to Safaira our building is heating dominated and has a big equipment load and lighting load.

This makes sense considering it’s a museum, the spaces must be conditioned to pretty specific standards to make sure the artwork is okay. The climate of San Francisco can get pretty cold too, so heating is definitely going to be an issue. The MoMA could try to utilize the massive number of skylights to store heat energy in some thermal mass that they can use to hear the building. They could try to utilize the internal loads of people, lighting and other machinery to help heat the building. However, this is harder to fine tune than having a mechanical system with precise control over humidity, temperature and light intensity.

DAYLIGHTING ANALYSIS According to the Safaira analysis the building is mostly over lit and towards the back portions of the MoMA, where the offices are, it’s pretty dark. However, the light entering the MoMA is not direct, except from the oculus. The light that enters from the skylights hit diffusers attached to the ceiling to provide an ambient glow for the artwork. The second floor of the MoMA seemed to get the most amount of light due to the fact, some light from the oculus is coming in and because of the skylights fixed above it. The first floor gets a good amount of light near the entrance of the building and near the oculus, but it’s under lit pretty much everywhere else.

The second floor though could use less skylights or some sort of feature that dampens the intensity of the light.

Energy Model

Daylight Model

Thermal and Ventilation Diagram

THERMAL AND VENTILATION SYSTEMS The majority of conditioning in this building is handled by mechanical systems to cool and heat the building.

There aren’t any passive systems that are incorporated into the building either. The oculus however, lets in a lot of heat into the building and doesn’t really have a way to expell this heat, which means it comes down to the mechanical systems to get rid of this added heat. The building is most likely cooled and heated through an air-based system that utilize mixed air systems to heat, cool and ventilate the space. These systems work in tandum with the form of the building to help distribute air.

4.1 Library, showing slot diffuser under light track in ceiling Photos: SF Travel

Gallery

Gallery

Entrance

CIRCULATION The entrance of the building leads you to a large atrium with the stairs displayed in front of you. The lobby is very open and makes the arrival feel monumental. You go up a grand stair case and get off at every floor. You circle around until you go back to the stairs to ascend to the next floor. The stairs allow you to peer down into the lobby space and look at people who are arriving and this gives you a very direct sense of ascension. At the very top there is a bridge which allows you to walk from one end of the oculus to the other and get a fully bird’s eye view of the lobby.

4.2 SF MoMA Oculus Happy Architect

EGRESS AND FIRE LIFE SAFETY There are 4 means of egress out of the building. Two stairwells on either end of the gallery space, a stairwell in the back for the offices and other gallery spaces, and the long stair that is on the project east side of the building, which has access on every floor. All of the stairs, with the exception of the exterior stair are enclosed and allow for people to exit directly to the street. The exterior stair provides direct access to the outside on all levels of the building and also is semi-experiential because it allows you walk along the facade of the building and see the city from a higher point of view.

4.3 Exterior Egress Stair Mario Botta

5_REFERENCES BIBLIOGRAPHY “Architectural Record 11/1994.” Architectural Record 11/1994, www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/backissues/1994-11.pdf?783666000.

Howarth, Dan. “‘We Could Never Recreate Mario Botta’s SFMOMA’ – Snøhetta.” Dezeen, Dezeen, 3 May 2016, www.dezeen.com/2016/05/02/sanfrancisco-museum-of-modern-art-sfmoma-extension-interview-snohetta-craig-dykers-ruth-berson-mario-botta/.

McKnight, Jenna. “Postmodernism in Architecture: SFMOMA by Mario Botta.” Dezeen, Dezeen, 3 May 2016, www.dezeen.com/2015/08/10/ postmodernism-architecture-sfmoma-san-francisco-museum-of-modern-art-mario-botta-snohetta-craig-dykers-extension/.

Woodbridge, Sally. “SF MoMA unveils Botta design.” Progressive Architecture, Nov. 1990, p. 24. Academic OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/ A9079454/AONE?u=calpolyw_csu&sid=AONE&xid=bb9a0cb3. Accessed 9 Dec. 2018.

IMAGE CREDITS Cover image: photograph © Caroline Culler “San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.” Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, 24 May 2017, www.haasjr.org/issues-impact/community/san-francisco-museumof-modern-art.

1.1: photograph © Henrik Kam McKnight, Jenna. “Postmodernism in Architecture: SFMOMA by Mario Botta.” Dezeen, Dezeen, 3 May 2016, www.dezeen.com/2015/08/10/ postmodernism-architecture-sfmoma-san-francisco-museum-of-modern-art-mario-botta-snohetta-craig-dykers-extension/.

1.2: photograph © Go Tokyo “The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art.” GO TOKYO - The Official Tokyo Travel Guide, www.gotokyo.org/en/spot/169/.

1.3: photograph © Fondation Bodmer “Library.” Fondation Bodmer, preprod.fondationbodmer.ch/en/library/.

1.4: photograph © Deter Golland “Bibliothek Dortmund.” Fotocommunity, www.fotocommunity.de/photo/bibliothek-dortmund-dieter-golland/16953676.

1.5: all images © Mario Botta McKnight, Jenna. “Postmodernism in Architecture: SFMOMA by Mario Botta.” Dezeen, Dezeen, 3 May 2016, www.dezeen.com/2015/08/10/ postmodernism-architecture-sfmoma-san-francisco-museum-of-modern-art-mario-botta-snohetta-craig-dykers-extension/.

2.1: photograph © Google “SF MoMA Google Maps.” Google Search, Google, www.google.com/maps/place/San+Francisco+Museum+of+Modern+Art/@37.7857819,122.4016638,264m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8085807d623572e7:0xc87ca0dcbc7559fd!8m2!3d37.7857182!4d-122.4010508.

3.1: photograph © Pamono “San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.” Pamono.com, www.pamono.com/museums/san-francisco-museum-of-modern-art.

3.2: photograph © Iwan Baan Snøhetta. “SFMOMA San Francisco Museum of Modern Art by Snøhetta | Museums.” Products We Keep You Informed with Our News, Architonic, 26 May 2016, www.architonic.com/en/project/snhetta-sfmoma-san-francisco-museum-of-modern-art/5103337.

3.3: photograph © SF MoMA Sfmoma. “Sfmoma.” SFMOMA, 31 May 2013, sfmoma.tumblr.com/post/51748232197/with-our-countdown-celebration-happening-now.

3.4: all images © Dezeen McKnight, Jenna. “Postmodernism in Architecture: SFMOMA by Mario Botta.” Dezeen, Dezeen, 3 May 2016, www.dezeen.com/2015/08/10/ postmodernism-architecture-sfmoma-san-francisco-museum-of-modern-art-mario-botta-snohetta-craig-dykers-extension/.

4.1: photograph © Pamono “Why You Should Be Excited About the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.” San Francisco Travel, www.sftravel.com/article/why-you-should-be-excitedabout-san-francisco-museum-modern-art.

4.2: photograph © Happy Architect Ononiwu, Pascal. “Happy Architect.” “We Could Never Recreate Mario Botta’s SFMOMA” Says Extension Architect Craig Dykers of Snøhetta, 1 Jan. 1970, happyarchitec.blogspot.com/2016/05/we-could-never-recreate-mario-bottas.html.

4.3: photograph © Mario Botta DESIGN, www.botta.ch/en/SPAZI%20DELLA%20CULTURA?idx=19.

All other images were created by the authors