SFMOMA Roof Garden

A leafy sculpture garden will soon disguise the dreary roof of the 1999 garage behind San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art. Ground was broken on April 3 for the $18 million project, designed by San Francisco firm Jensen Architects and slated for completion next spring. A catwalk-like footbridge will connect the 14,400-square-foot garden to the museum’s top-floor galleries. Sliding-glass panels, slabs of black lava stone, and gingko trees will partition the garden, which will be visible throughout the fifth floor interior—a new full-width window will be cut into the museum’s Mario Botta-designed 1995 facade. Sculptures on view will be mostly bronze or painted-metal abstract pieces from the 1960s through the 1980s by blue-chip artists such as Alexander Calder, Joel Shapiro, and Ellsworth Kelly. Through Oct. 26, the museum is hosting an exhibit about the garden, with an animated, digital simulation of a walk around the rooftop. www.sfmoma.org