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It will be known, like Madonna or Cher, as just "Broad," and is described as a "honeycomb." Today billionaire developer and spender of big bucks for the greater good revealed renderings of his new museum planned for Grand Avenue.
The three-story Broad, with its 35,000 square feet of gallery space will ultimately house 2,000 pieces of art and cover nearly an acre of Bunker Hill real estate. Designed by Diller Scofidio+Renfro, the building will feature "a dramatic honeycombed cast-concrete skin, a glass-enclosed lobby with an undulating ceiling and a column-free top-floor exhibition space," according to the LA Times' architecture critic, and says the structure has "a straightforward simplicity," though it lacks some of the technological nods and elements typical of the firm, and of earlier versions of the plan.
Those missing elements include digital screens that would have face 2nd and Grand, and a plan to have drivers entering the parking garage see patrons through glass in the lobby on foot, and vice versa, both of which, as left out, represent a missed opportunity to connect the outside with the inside, and to bring together LA's car culture with those on foot.
Broad hopes the museum will contribute to the urban "hive" vibe of Downtown, and ultimately bring people together. Construction is expected to begin this summer.
Previously
Broad Strokes: Unveiling The Design For A New Art Museum
Downtown L.A. is Getting a New Museum: Eli Broad Confirms Grand Avenue Location
Plans for New Art Museum in Downtown Approved by L.A. City Council
