This is Part 2 of a four-part series on the San Diego Museum of Art’s 100th anniversary. For a look at the museum’s history, see Part 1.
BALBOA PARK – As San Diego Museum of Art prepares to celebrate its centennial, the museum’s chief curator is brimming with ideas for the next century.
Anita Feldman hopes SDMA could become the permanent home of San Diego Ballet.
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 – the most comprehensive collection of Indian paintings outside of India.
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 except with living artists).
But all of those ideas rely on the ambitious – and likely pricey – plan to complete the museum’s new west wing, which would double its display space.
“We’re gonna change the city,” Feldman said. “It’s not gonna be ‘No one thinks of the arts.’ Well, they’re gonna think of the arts. We’re gonna change that.”
Why a new west wing
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.
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.
The museum’s Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs Anita Feldman. (Photo by Brittany Cruz-Fejeran)The aspects people currently love – Panama 66 and the sculpture garden – 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.
The design would double the museum’s 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.
More importantly, Feldman believes these changes align with the modern philosophy of what a museum is: Accessible and community oriented.
“We don’t want people to feel intimidated coming to a museum,” Feldman said.
SDMA was constructed to look like a temple. However beautiful SDMA’s iconic exterior may be, it is not welcoming. With no way to see whether the museum’s lights are on, SDMA now puts a big sign outside announcing they are open.
Community access
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.
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.
“It’s just more fluid,” Feldman said. “You 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.”
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.
“We want to bring that nature in and bring the museum experience into the park,” Feldman said.
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’t on display, similar to a pilot program at V&A Museum in London, which she recently visited.
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)“They create meaningful encounters, which I find really inspiring,” Feldman said. “Obviously the safety of the objects comes first. But I think it’s 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.”
A doable project
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.
The museum has not announced how much construction is estimated to cost or how it will be funded. For context, it cost $55 million 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.
Perhaps optimistically, the museum hopes to start construction in 2026 and be done by 2030.
There’s been pushback. The San Diego Architectural Foundation calls attention to standout local projects by handing out “Orchids and Onions.” The museum plan garnered a “big-time onion” in the historic preservation category because of the push to demolish the west wing.
While calling the current wing “dear to the community,” representatives of the foundation questioned why “a more sensitive and creative solution” has not been proposed.
Yet the project also was honored last year with the Signature Project Design Award for Museum Renovation, presented by the Design Forward Alliance as part of San Diego Design Week.
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.
Without a nearby parking lot like The Nat, the construction base would likely be in the Plaza de Panama outside the museum’s front entrance, which could damage it (another reason the museum wants to redevelop the plaza).
Despite these challenges, Feldman is excited. After 11 years at SDMA, she wants to finish the upgrades before her retirement.
“It’s a project, but it’s doable,” she said.
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