To convey the neighborhood again to the previous San Francisco Artwork Institute (SFAI) and its preserved Diego Rivera fresco, Jensen Architects has been tapped by BMA-Institute—a brand new nonprofit based by Laurene Powell Jobs—to reimagine the historic constructing. The 94,000-square-foot campus in Russian Hill will proceed to supply arts schooling and function BMA’s headquarters, albeit beneath a brand new identify.
The announcement comes not lengthy after SFAI’s campus at 800 Chestnut Avenue was purchased by BMA-Institute in chapter courtroom. The historic artwork college had fallen into dire straights due to dwindling enrollment and San Francisco’s white scorching actual property market that’s hollowing out a lot of its tradition scene.
BMA-Institute, Jensen Architects, and different improvement companions will quickly start assessing the campus for defects, after years of deferred upkeep. It will occur whereas BMA-Institute builds out its workers and creates an advisory board. A brand new identify for SFAI will likely be shared in winter 2024.
Reviving 800 Chestnut
Since 1925, SFAI has been headquartered inside a Spanish colonial type constructing by Bakewell & Brown. Diego Rivera famously painted a fresco there in 1931 the place he “confirmed his hatred for the wealthy.” Then, within the Sixties, Paffard Keatinge-Clay designed a Brutalist addition for SFAI. The campus was landmarked in 1977.
By 2023, SFAI was $10 million in debt, and had solely 40 college students. SFAI declared chapter final yr, and its campus went up for public sale in chapter courtroom. It appeared to suffer from the identical market forces affecting so many historic artwork faculties across the nation like itself—College of the Arts in Philadelphia, as an illustration, closed in June resulting from related circumstances.
Shifting ahead, BMA-Institute and Jensen Architects hope to convey the neighborhood again to 800 Chestnut and its preserved Rivera fresco. “Working with arts and cultural organizations has been a core focus and fervour of our agency since inception,” Mark Jensen, founding father of Jensen Architects, shared in a press release.
“As sturdy believers within the significance of a thriving arts ecosystem to a neighborhood,” Jensen continued, “we’re thrilled to have the chance to assist craft the subsequent chapter for this historic and cherished web site. There are traditions, accomplishments, and reminiscences infused on this place that may inform the subsequent layer of artistic occupancy.”
The restoration will likely be an excellent addition to Jensen Architects’s California portfolio. Thus far, the San Francisco workplace accomplished the Rooftop Backyard at SFMOMA, CounterPulse Theater off Market Avenue, the Minnesota Avenue Undertaking, a efficiency venue within the Mission District, and signature areas at California School of the Arts (CCA).
BMA-Institute and Jensen Architects estimate that the campus’s bodily restoration will start in 2025.
Building will probably take two to 4 years.
