Visual Mockup of the Grey Glazed TerraClad® for the Asian Arts Museum in San Francisco, California
The Asian Art Museum, Chong Moon Center for Asian Art and Culture is a historic institution located in San Francisco, California. The museum is currently undergoing a significant expansion that will allow them to show off more of their permanent collection and expand their educational programs and offerings to patrons in the bay area. The future Akiko Yamazaki & Jerry Yang Pavilion will be clad in a three-dimensional terra cotta façade manufactured by Boston Valley Terra Cotta.
The 13,000 square foot exhibition pavilion and art terrace is the first construction project since the Asian Art Museum relocated to their current Beaux-Art facilities in the Civic Center District of downtown San Francisco. The bold decision to invest in the future of the museum is a part of their ongoing effort to enhance the visitor experience and show their world renowned collection of 18,000+ artifacts, encompassing 6,000 years of history. The expansion of the Asian Art Museum was designed by Kulapat Yantrasast from wHY Architecture. Increased space for exhibiting contemporary and traditional art helps the museum achieve their goal of bringing knowledge and understanding of Asian cultures to the public.
Components of the Akiko Yamazaki & Jerry Yang Pavilion are being manufactured at Boston Valley Terra Cotta. The design of the façade is comprised of several different sized panels which will give the building an interesting visual texture. The speckled grey custom glaze has been developed to complement the architecture on the original 1917 Beaux Art Library.
The angular geometric panels used in the mockup have been fabricated using the Hand Press forming method, but once approved the panels will be created using the RAM Press. This forming method produces many duplicates by pushing Clay into molds, either by hand or by hydraulic press. Boston Valley created a small visual mockup of the Asian Art Museum’s TerraClad® rain screen (see below). For the mock-up, sample units are fabricated and installed on our standard track and clip system for review. This part of our QA/QC process assists in confirming not only the visual aesthetic of the façade, but makes sure the alignment and fit is correct.

Visual mockup of the terraclad® façade for the Asian Arts Museum in San Francisco.

Side view of the visual mockup installed on the Boston Valley track and clip system.

Another visual mockup that shows the different sized terra cotta panels.
The video below, courtesy of the Asian Art Museum, demonstrates their mission statement and goals for the construction on the museum.