What is the role of a museum in contemporary society? Recognising that a museum is a mediator between art and life, Snohetta's expansion to Mario Botta's 1995 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art reimagines SFMOMA both as a new art experience and as a gateway into the city of San Fran- cisco itself. No longer an inward-looking shrine to the art object, a museum today must engage with its local conditions in a proactive way. This book presents Snohetta's most recent investigation into how architecture can nurture social engagement, foster relationships between art and people, and support the museum's mission to remain vital and magnetic. Accompanied by behind-the-scenes sketches, drawings, and photographs that detail the design and construction process, this book is in itself an intimate engagement with the building, its directors and curators, its inhabitants, and its creators. AUTHOR: Snohetta is an international design studio with offices in New York and Oslo. It has designed some of the world's most notable cultural and public projects. Since its inception in 1989, the practice has maintained its original trans- disciplinary approach, integrating architecture, landscape, and interior design in all of its projects. SELLING POINTS: . An intimate perspective of the building and its people . Includes sketches, drawings and photographs illustrating the process of making the museum 315 illustrations