Artsy Grandma was waiting for us in lobby of the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. The museum was founded in 1895. In 2005, the museum re-opened with an exciting new building designed by Swiss architects, Herzog & de Meuron and Fong & Chan Architects in San Francisco. I particularly enjoyed the breathtaking ninth floor viewing tower with a panoramic view of San Francisco.

Since it was late in the day, we quickly checked out the museum’s gallery of American art which includes some lovely works by California’s Wayne Thiebaud, Richard Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park #116, and works by Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton and Joh Singer Sargent.

I did a little Wiki and found this out about it:

The site stands near the San Andreas fault, where the original De Young had been
severely damaged in 1989 by the Loma Prieta earthquake. The terrain and seismic activity posed a problem for the
designers Herzog & de Meuron and principal architects Fong &
Chan.

The building is characterized by a textured and perforated copper
and brass sheathing surrounding the outside structure. The twisting 144
foot (44 m) tall tower is a distinctive feature of the design, which
also incorporates and reconstructs elements from the original museum as
well as several interior and exterior courtyards.

To address the problem of the fault, “[the building] can move up to
three feet (91 centimeters) due to a unique system of ball-bearing
sliding plates and viscous fluid dampers that absorb kinetic energy and
convert it to heat” (Ashmore).

Since the building is in the middle of an urban park, the designers
were sensitive to its appearance in its natural setting. The entire
exterior is clad in 163,118 ft of copper, which will quickly oxidize and take on a greenish tone and a
distinct texture to echo the building’s external environment. In order
to further harmonize with the surroundings, shapes were cut into the
top to reveal gardens and courtyards where 48 trees had been planted.
5.12 acres (20,700 square meters) of new landscaping had been planted
as well, with 344 transplanted trees and 69 historic boulders. (Source-
“De Young By The Numbers.” San Francisco Chronicle)