Museum of Architecture and the City

My studio project for this last term (Spring 2010), was a 50,000 sq-ft museum dedicated to 'architecture and the city'.  As such, it referenced its place on the border of two different grids in San Francisco, while remaining true to its exact locale and the original research I had done into the unusual site (that the site is an anomaly to the surrounding grid).  

An exterior torque begins at the SOMA grid and then finishes at the Financial District grid, while a separate, opposing torque runs directly through the centre of the building as a lightwell.  This creates shifting dynamic spaces, variation in the floorplans, and most importantly, an anomaly.

Two viewing chambers at the first and sixth floors allow the user to view the city grids.  One looks over YBCA to the south, and over the Jewish Museum to the North West to survey the building's place in the organisation of the city.