Full Metal Jacket: The De Young Museum May Appear Tough and Impenetrable, but in Reality Exploring Its Interiors Is a Delight; Just like a Wall in the Park

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If you go down to the woods today, you're in for a big surprise; a very big surprise, but a welcome one at that. For the people of San Francisco the anticipation is over, and for Museum curators, the Board of Trustees, and the designers involved, the gala opening of the new de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park this month concludes years of hard work. After the devastating effects of the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, plans were made to rebuild the Museum's damaged buildings. Following two failed attempts to secure funding through a city bond, when it was hoped that public money would help preserve its valuable art collection, the decision was taken to raise funds privately, increasing the target from $35 to $135 million; an apparently unattainable target that was subsequently surpassed with an astonishing $180 million being raised by over 7000 donors. With this determined demonstration, the ambition to design an architectural masterpiece not only gave the Museum the opportunity to rebuild its galleries, but also to reinvent itself; challenging how art is displayed through a serious of unique interiors, and confronting the pre-existing formality of the Beaux Arts garden site.

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The architect of London's Tate Modern and the recently completed Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Herzog & de Meuron was chosen from a long list of well-known contenders. Meier and Botta were both ruled out and, presumably with subsequent regret, Gehry, Holl …