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Angelika Joseph

3rd Place

Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, 2019

The 2016 redesign of SFMOMA was recent, so there were relatively few peer-reviewed articles that even mentioned the building. My topic was so new that I had to dive into the past to build my perspective.

Angelika Joseph

Botta to Snøhetta; Cultural Changes between the 1990s and 2010s

Research paper written for Art History 187: Contemporary Architecture

Read Angelika’s Paper (pdf)

Project Description

Joseph’s paper investigates the forces behind the 2016 redesign of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, from the influence of tech on San Francisco’s social, economic and cultural context, to changes in museum revenue streams and visitor behavior. She used books with detailed plans and architectural models from UC Berkeley’s Environmental Design Library, sociological critiques on capitalism and class, news coverage, interviews with the architects that reveal their design philosophies, and her own experience of the building in each of its incarnations — weaving together an analysis of the physical construction of the buildings as a mirror for how San Francisco itself has changed.

In Their Own Words

Read Angelika’s reflective essay from their Lang Prize application.