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Crunching the Numbers

Nina Martin, with additional reporting by Adam Brinklow and Katy Quigg | May 23, 2013 | Lifestyle Story Culture

29,600: artworks to be moved (including more than 7,500 paintings and sculptures, 170 media works, and 16,000 photos).

$10 million: approximate cost to build a new fire station on Folsom Street, after razing the one on Howard Street to make room for the museum's expansion.

60: workers required to remove Gu Wenda's united nations—babel of the millennium, made of human hair and Elmer's glue.

31 miles: tape used to secure packing materials and seal up boxes containing artworks.

$800: average cost of a glue gun used for foam-box assembly.

10,000+: cubic feet of lumber used to build crates and other moving materials.

0 feet: amount of bubble wrap used to transfer artwork (the bubbles can leave impressions on the art, so archival foam is used instead).

Originally published in the June 2013 issue of San Francisco

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Crunching the Numbers