The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco Recruits Architect Kulapat Yantrasast for Its Major Transformation

AD PRO talks to the architect about his plans

The Akiko Yamazaki  Jerry Yang Pavilion concept design by wHY for San Francisco's Asian Art Museum.
The Akiko Yamazaki & Jerry Yang Pavilion concept design by wHY for San Francisco's Asian Art Museum.Rendering: Courtesy wHY and Asian Art Museum

When San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum tapped the interdisciplinary design firm wHY and its founder and creative director, Kulapat Yantrasast, to lead the institution’s $90 million expansion and renovation, it couldn’t have made a wiser decision. The museum begins its “transformation project” this year with a new 13,000-square-foot exhibition Pavilion and Art Terrace on the building’s east side. Yantrasast, who earned his master's and Ph.D. in architecture from the University of Tokyo, has made a name for himself—and his firm—with his work on innumerable cultural institutions including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Speed Art Museum, The Broad Art Foundation, the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Equally impressive are the Bangkok-born architect’s collaborations with art-world superstars like Jeff Koons, Richard Serra, and Ellsworth Kelly. For Yantrasast, these are more than just projects; they’re indicative of his dedication to serving the arts, communities, and culture. AD PRO caught up with the Los Angeles–based Yantrasast on a recent visit to the Asian Art Museum to talk about the project, his love for art, and what it’s like to transform a museum from the inside out.

Kulapat Yantrasast.

Photo: Courtesy of Kulapat Yantrasast

AD PRO: How did your involvement with the Asian Art Museum come about?

Kulapat Yantrasast: We actually began the project about two and a half years ago. They saw the work I had done before, including work for the Art Institute of Chicago when Jay Xu, the director of the Asian Art Museum, was one of the department heads. I also did a full-scale interior art installation at the Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge. There are a lot of people who just do interiors and others who just do "the box," but not a lot of people like me who do both.

AD PRO: How did the existing Beaux-Arts elements of the building inspire you?

KY: I tend to work more and more on historic buildings, and the building itself informed a lot of the design. And really, this is one of the most historic buildings in San Francisco’s Civic Center area—which is one of the most important, intact civic centers in the country—perhaps more so than New York or Chicago, and certainly more so than Los Angeles. You have City Hall, the War Memorial Opera House, Davies Symphony Hall, Bill Graham Auditorium…so there are a lot of expectations, and we can’t do just anything. We have to think about how to respect the gravitas of the area and the proportions of the building itself.


wHY's plan for the Bowes South Court.

Rendering: Courtesy wHY and Asian Art Museum

AD PRO: The project is being referred to as the "Transformation." Why?

KY: It’s a very complex project. When we first started we didn’t plan on making any additions. We were really just focusing on the galleries and the [eventual] reinstallation of all of the artworks—basically a complete transformation from within. While looking at the collections and trying to make sense of it all, we quickly realized it was so very full and so very dense. The first step, at that point, was to consider the contrast between the space and masterpieces and other objects. It’s really a collection full of masterpieces—I still get goose bumps every time I walk through the museum.

AD PRO: It sounds like plans might have changed along the way. What decisions were made to create more exhibition space?

KY: One of the things we already planned to do, on the inside, was to clear out the space in order to allow the clarity of the old building to come through. As we started working on that for a few months, the question came up as to whether the museum would close or stay open during the renovation process. The decision was that there was no way it could close because of the members, and the many communities, who had no other place to go. At that point it was clear we needed to have an addition. We needed a space we could move things into when one part closed for construction, and that’s when we started work on the pavilion. It was always in the back of our minds, in the beginning, but we weren’t sure we could do both [interior and exterior work], or whether there would even be enough money. So, in the end, we’re adding one story. Flexibility is a big part of the project!

The Koret Education Center.

Rendering: Courtesy wHY and Asian Art Museum

AD PRO: This is a museum that’s certainly experienced a lot of flexibility in its time.

KY: Yes! It’s a little bit like a hermit crab. It first used to be in Golden Gate Park, in a space where it didn’t really belong. Then it moved here—into a building that’s really long and skinny, without any large open spaces it can utilize. There was also a need to incorporate contemporary art into its program, so the idea of having spaces with high ceilings and no columns was very appealing to the museum.

AD PRO: Being Thai, was there a compelling cultural connection that drew you to the project?

KY: Yes, obviously. But deep down I just wanted to make the coolest museum—it didn’t have to be Asian. We all carry our DNA with us, though I don’t see myself as particularly Asian. But I do have a sense of pride for where I come from. Asian culture has so much to offer the world when you consider its contributions to food, fashion, design, and even architecture. A lot of edgy things come out of countries like Japan or Korea because Asians like the idea of renewal. As a culture we have had to adapt to a lot of change—now we almost look for it.

The "art terrace."

Photo: Courtesy wHY and Asian Art Museum

AD PRO: Do you find working on large projects like this more satisfying than with residential clients, for instance?

KY: I enjoy public projects like museums. As a person I’m really interested in art. I use art as therapy, and as a way of finding inspiration for the complete world I want to live in. I’m actually doing more and more public spaces like gardens, parks, and plazas. It’s so nice to be able to have a lot of people see the finished product, unlike when you do a house. Even though you’re proud of the work, it may just be the owners and their friends who enjoy it. In the end, it really depends on the client. You’re really getting into a deep relationship with someone when you design their house. You end up knowing all their secrets…like the relationship between a husband and wife. If you don’t choose carefully it can be a very painful experience on both sides!

AD PRO: Can you fill us in on a few of the other things wHY’s working on?

KY: Right now, in my New York office, we’re working on a big renovation of a wing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and about three months ago we started to renovate an old wing of the American Museum of Natural History, its Northwest Coast Hall—the oldest part of the museum, from 1899. We also won a competition to design the master plan for a historic site in Edinburgh, Scotland, right below Edinburgh Castle. The space [known as the Ross Pavilion and West Princes Street Gardens] is about 25 acres and will have a café, visitors center, museum, and amphitheater for music.