Copper Tone

edited by Sheila Kim-Jamet -- Interior Design, 9/1/2005 12:00:00 AM

Already receiving rapturous reviews, the de Young museum's home by Pritzker Prize–winning architects Herzog & de Meuron has emerged from four years of demolition and construction with a striking copper facade perforated in a pattern that emulates light filtering through trees. Built in conjunction with Fong & Chan Architects, the new, seismically stable three-level structure encompasses 116,000 square feet of gallery and education space. And the interior, much like the copper skin, pays homage to nature in surrounding Golden Gate Park—with glassed-in gardens, generous skylights, and flooring of porphyry and eucalyptus.

Meanwhile, the museum's first exhibition, "Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh," pays homage to Egypt's golden age. Opening October 15; 415-863-3330; thinker.org.