![\"A](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timesofsandiego.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0.MA1_.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a>A detailed model of the west wing plan at the San Diego Museum of Art. (Photo by Brittany Cruz-Fejeran)<\/p>\nThis is Part 2 of a four-part series on the San Diego Museum of Art\u2019s 100th anniversary. For a look at the museum\u2019s history, see Part 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n BALBOA PARK \u2013 As San Diego Museum of Art<\/a> prepares to celebrate its centennial, the museum\u2019s chief curator is brimming with ideas for the next century.<\/p>\n Anita Feldman hopes SDMA could become the permanent home of San Diego Ballet. <\/p>\n The current gift shop could be transformed into a study center with visible storage of the 1,500 mini Indian paintings donated by Edwin Binney \u2013 the most comprehensive collection of Indian paintings outside of India.<\/p>\n The museum could take over the flat expanse of the Plaza de Panama and redevelop it with more places for visitors to linger. New exhibition space could host massive digital installations from contemporary artists (think the Van Gogh Experience<\/a> except with living artists).<\/p>\n But all of those ideas rely on the ambitious \u2013 and likely pricey \u2013 plan to complete the museum\u2019s new west wing, which would double its display space.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re gonna change the city,\u201d Feldman said. \u201cIt\u2019s not gonna be \u2018No one thinks of the arts.\u2019 Well, they\u2019re gonna think of the arts. We\u2019re gonna change that.\u201d<\/p>\n Why a new west wing<\/p>\n According to Feldman, the current west wing, built in 1966, is underutilized. The library is rarely open and Feldman said the auditorium does not serve its purpose. The columns above the popular Panama 66 cafe are crumbling. Plus, the museum is short on gallery space.\u00a0<\/p>\n The redevelopment would add two stories of subterranean storage and exhibition space, plus two stories of above-ground galleries and a rooftop terrace for more sculptures.\u00a0<\/p>\n The aspects people currently love \u2013 Panama 66 and the sculpture garden \u2013 will remain, albeit changed. The sculpture garden will be more open from all sides with an education pavilion at its end. Panama 66 will be situated next to two galleries and retail space on the ground floor, plus a grab-and-go cafe. One of the galleries could convert to be used for house concerts and events.\u00a0<\/p>\n The design would double the museum\u2019s gallery space; add additional storage vaults; include new community, education, reading, workshop and event spaces; bring in new drink and dining options, including a rooftop fine dining restaurant, and provide new parking options with an underground garage in parking-hungry Balboa Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n More importantly, Feldman believes these changes align with the modern philosophy of what a museum is: Accessible and community oriented.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want people to feel intimidated coming to a museum,\u201d Feldman said.<\/p>\n SDMA was constructed to look like a temple<\/a>. However beautiful SDMA\u2019s iconic exterior may be, it is not welcoming. With no way to see whether the museum\u2019s lights are on, SDMA now puts a big sign outside announcing they are open.<\/p>\n The new wing will be more accessible in multiple ways. Its alternate entrance to the main building is on the ground floor with no stairs. Two galleries on the ground floor, one focused on photography, will be free, with admission only needed for basement levels or the stories above, which are connected to the main museum. <\/p>\n Fences around the sculpture garden will be removed so anyone may walk through the galleries and garden directly to the Prado or the Old Globe Theatre.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just more fluid,\u201d Feldman said. \u201cYou get rid of the stairs and the columns and the lines and you approach it on the ground level, and you have light and nature be a part of it, and you have access to the collections in a much freer way, but still in a meaningful way.\u201d<\/p>\n From the sculpture garden, nature will spill through and art will spill out. Tourists come to San Diego for its biodiversity, Feldman says, so they should not forget their environment even when they are inside.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to bring that nature in and bring the museum experience into the park,\u201d Feldman said.<\/p>\n The inner workings of the museum will no longer be hidden. Two visible vaults where visitors can watch staff frame, preserve or prepare exhibits will be in the basement. Plus, Feldman wants to create a program so people can make appointments to see pieces in the collection that aren\u2019t on display, similar to a pilot program at V&A Museum in London, which she recently visited.<\/p>\n \u201cThey create meaningful encounters, which I find really inspiring,\u201d Feldman said. \u201cObviously the safety of the objects comes first. But I think it\u2019s really interesting because it gives the public a sense of ownership. This is your museum. This is your collection. And I very much want to convey that.\u201d<\/p>\n A doable project<\/strong><\/p>\n The bold design from Foster + Partners would face permitting challenges in any part of San Diego. Changes to city-managed Balboa Park add another layer of red tape.<\/p>\n The museum has not announced how much construction is estimated to cost or how it will be funded.\u00a0For context, it cost $55 million<\/a> for the 2021 makeover of the nearby Mingei International Museum and $105 million for the 2022 renovation of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla.<\/p>\n Perhaps optimistically, the museum hopes to start construction in 2026 and be done by 2030.<\/p>\n There\u2019s been pushback. The San Diego Architectural Foundation calls attention to standout local projects by handing out \u201cOrchids and Onions.\u201d The museum plan garnered a \u201cbig-time onion\u201d<\/a> in the historic preservation category because of the push to demolish the west wing.<\/p>\n While calling the current wing \u201cdear to the community,\u201d representatives of the foundation questioned why \u201ca more sensitive and creative solution\u201d has not been proposed.<\/p>\n Yet the project also was honored last year with the Signature Project Design Award for Museum Renovation, presented by the\u00a0Design Forward Alliance<\/a>\u00a0as part of\u00a0San Diego Design Week<\/a>.<\/p>\n If approved, construction will face additional challenges. Heavy sculptures must be moved to other places in San Diego, possibly the Botanical Garden and Salk Institute. Then 32,000 artworks will have to find a temporary home.<\/p>\n Without a nearby parking lot like The Nat, the construction base would likely be in the Plaza de Panama outside the museum\u2019s front entrance, which could damage it (another reason the museum wants to redevelop the plaza).<\/p>\n Despite these challenges, Feldman is excited. After 11 years at SDMA, she wants to finish the upgrades before her retirement.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a project, but it\u2019s doable,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n READ NEXT\n\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SD Museum of Art at 100 This series, ahead of the centennial exhibit, which opens Jan. 24, looks…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":506992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,226989,8159,1582,276,9886,148723,3549,222087,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-506991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-anita-feldman","10":"tag-balboa-park","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-california","13":"tag-construction","14":"tag-orchids-onions","15":"tag-san-diego","16":"tag-san-diego-museum-of-art","17":"tag-sandiego","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115872852004989478","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>The museum\u2019s Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs Anita Feldman. (Photo by Brittany Cruz-Fejeran)<\/p>\n<\/a>A woman looks at the display of the model for the proposed new west wing at the San Diego Museum of Art. It has been featured at the museum since August 2025. (Photo by Brittany Cruz-Fejeran)<\/p>\n