Art Spaces Series:
The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

By Thomas Christensen
Photography by Kaz Tsuruta
$7.95 (softcover)

For years the Asian Art Museum, one of the largest museums in the West devoted to Asian art, was one of San Francisco's best-kept secrets. Tucked away in a wing of the De Young Musem in Golden Gate Park, it could only display a small percentage of its holdings. Finally, in 2003, the museum opened in a new location in the city's Civic Center, in a 1916 beaux arts building originally designed by George W. Kelham.

The building boasted some fine architectural features, among them a classical facade, an inspiring monumental staircase surrounded by a handsome loggia, a grand central hall, and ceilings decorated with floral and geometric patterns. It also presented serious challenges for its transformation to an art museum. It was dark, confused, fragmented, and gloomy. The task of retaining the building's historic qualities while invigorating it was given to Milanese architect Gae Aulenti (Musée d'Orsay). She opened up the building, bringing in a flood of light and providing new orientation. She created a first-floor piazza, introduced massive V-shaped skylights that unify and illuminate the entire structure, and created a new suspended floor to display more of the museum's collection.

This handy book, part of Scala's Art Spaces series, tells the story of the museum's transformation and gives an overview of its layout and contents.

64 pages, 4 1/3 x 6.5 in., 74 color illustrations, ISBN: 1-85759-356-1

Art Spaces Series: The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

Art Spaces Series:
The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco