The De Young Museum in the News: View articles from local news organizations following the history of the new Museum and broad spectrum of viewpoints on the project's site, design, funding, and impact on the city of San Francisco Case Study Process: View the case study team's minutes from meeting with various parties involved in the project Internet Resources on the De Young: Follow links to web sites which provide additional facts and opinions about the Museum, including the web site of the project's owner, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
  Who Was Involved: View a list of parties involved in the design and construction of the Museum as well as the members of the case study team What Were the Team's Milestones: View assignments for the UC Berkeley Building Stories (A229B) and Internship (A128) classes What was Found: View the case study team's initial findings regarding the key issues defining the project

 

Fall 2002 Department of Architecture
UC Berkeley

 

The Corporation of the Fine Arts Museums, a private non-profit, was organized to raise money for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco as a compensation for the loss of public funds. COFAM was asked by the FAMSF to be the developer for the de Young project. COFAM's team, led by Deborah Frieden, has managed the process from the initial RFP and they are raising private monies to fund the project.

Selecting the DESIGN ARCHITECT: Open Competition Welcomes Herzog & deMeuron

The selection of the Design Architect was through open competition. Around 20 firms were asked to submit but the competition was open to anyone. COFAM based the selection on body of work, experience, and their perception of how the firm would work with COFAM.

In January of 1999 Swiss design firm Herzog & DeMeuron were selected. They were given 6 months for the concept. H&D felt that they were selected partly for the dialogue in which they engaged the client regarding concepts of art; the de Young collection; and the strengths of the Mmuseum, particularly in education.

Selecting the PRIME ARCHITECT: Experience Yields Some Reservations

At the beginning of 2001, Fong & Chan, a local San Francisco firm, was hired as executive architect to take the design development set created by H&D and produce construction documents. F&C were interviewed once by Hezog & DeMeuron who were intimidated by F&C's structure and organization. H&D picked F&C based on their reputation for quality documents and for their familiarity with the city and local codes. F&C had both experience with and preconceptions about how the relationship between Design and Prime Architect would work due to previous work with Sir Norman Foster.
Selecting CONSULTANTS: A Process of Give-and-Take
F&C had a list of recommended consultants as did COFAM. Both firms, as well as COFAM, were involved in the selection process. In all there are around 45 consultants on the project. H&D asked Rutherford & Chekene, the project's structural engineer, to remain on and assist especially with the base isolation scheme. R&C had already established a relationship with the Museum through their work on the seismic retrofitting project in the early 1990's.

Selecting the CONSTRUCTION MANAGER / CONTRACTOR: Familiarity Breeds Comfort

In selecting the general contractor, COFAM conducted a narrow selection process containing only two or three firms. Swinerton Builders was selected, due primarily to the high quality of work the firm exhibited during the seismic retrofittingof the old de Young building. They were brought on in mid-1999 to provide pre-construction services and to do cost estimating.

 


FORMATION OF THE TEAM
          Who Were The Players and How Were They Selected?