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5/4/2016: Last week I had the pleasure of attending the press preview event for the new San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).

    David Brenner, founder of Habitat Horticulture,     creator of the living wall at SFMOMA

The event was buzzing with national and international media, artists, industry powerhouses, influencers and tastemakers in the world of architecture, art and design. Nestled downtown among the intimate, eclectic (and often crowded) urban/architectural design of the city, Snøhetta’s revision of the SFMOMA is an architectural feat and nothing short of stunning — a true fortress of cultural preservation. With its vaulted ceilings, vast windows, doubled square footage and carefully designed layout for optimum interaction, the most notable impression of the new SFMOMA is its exultation of light and contemplative space.

I attended with our client David Brenner – the founder and principal of Habitat Horticulture – and the visionary behind the museum’s remarkable living wall which, at 4,399 square feet, is the largest in the country. As an evolving piece of art with carefully selected mediums (more than 19,000 individual plants and 37 different species), the wall has a specific design intent and captures the essence of an understory plant community in a California woodland.

The living wall at the SFMOMA is a literal touchstone for reflective idealism and a reminder that art, and its interaction with the public, is a living, changeable organism.

After a marathon day of immersion, here were some of my unexpected takeaways:

1) David Brenner has a favorite spot on the living wall (hint: it’s at eye level), and despite the standard approach to trendy, outdoor plant installations, there exists not one succulent on the living wall.

2) Comedic voices: Martin Starr and Kumail Nanjiani (of HBO’s Silicon Valley) are among the recognizable voices as guides in the new audio tours.

3) Robot-created art is a thing now. His name is Viktor and prefers chalk drawing.

4) If you watch long enough, the mobiles in the Alexander Calder gallery move in subtle synchronicity with the living wall. Wind circulating through the third-floor terrace rustles the leaves on the wall and sweeps into the gallery as visitors move throughout.

5) For a quick injection of whimsy, don’t forget to check out the colorful, monochromatic bathrooms on each of the seven floors of the museum. Seriously.

The #newSFMOMA debuts FREE to the public on Saturday, May 14 – and 45,000 square feet of art-filled public space in the new museum will always remain free. Don’t forget to visit the gift shop, where The Living Table – also by Habitat Horticulture – will be a featured piece of “fernature” for sale, so you can take a piece of the wall home with you.

The post Great Expectations and Unexpected Revelations at the New SFMOMA appeared first on Fineman PR.

Stepping foot into an empty Levi’s Stadium is like that moment when you arrive at the top of a roller-coaster before the impending drop: exhilarating.

Our client, HNTB Corporation, set out to design the next generation football stadium, and that is exactly what they did. Nestled in the heart of Silicon Valley, Levi’s Stadium reflects many of the attributes that we associate with the Bay Area: technological innovation, sustainable living, and a rich, diverse food and wine culture. The sleek, state-of-the-art design makes you feel like you are part of something grand;  its green and high-tech design achievements make it one of the most celebrated sports venues ever.

In the words of Tim Cahill, senior vice president and chief design officer at HNTB, “Being in the heart of Silicon Valley it just became a natural that this had to be the most advanced stadium in the country … People expected not just cutting edge, but bleeding edge technology.”

See the full story on Associated Press

levis-stadium-finemanpr

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