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Whoa, The Redesigned Petersen Auto Museum Is Looking Fierce
Check out those sweet racing stripes in a photo taken today (Photo by Tony Pierce via Instagram)
The Petersen Automotive Museum is undergoing a major renovation, and it's a stunner— thanks to a fresh coat of red paint and shiny new fenders.
The reflective steel ribbons began wrapping around the Miracle Mile museum's new red facade back in April. And now, the $125 million redesign seems to be speeding towards completion, which is expected this December. It will mark the museum's 20th anniversary. Once completed the undulating silver zebra stripes—designed by architect Kohn Pedersen Fox—will be lit from within and run around the entire building on the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax. According to Fox, the exterior is meant to “evoke the imagery of speed and the organic curves of a coach-built automobile."
The Petersen's renovated interior will feature 22 new galleries and plenty of interactive technology to complement the museum's diverse collection of vehicles. The museum recently announced that they've partnered with several international automotive brands to bring innovative exhibitions to the completed museum. One of the new galleries will include a revolving selection of BMW's Art Cars, designed by artists like Alexander Calder, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, and Jenny Holzer. There will also be an installation demonstrating how Maseratis go from concept to completion, and a 1,500 square-foot simulation room where visitors can tear up legendary racing circuits.
The bold redesign of the Petersen has drawn comparisons to the shiny metallic beacon across town: The Disney Concert Hall. Eventually the museum will sit across from the new Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences film museum when that building is completed in a few years. And it will be just down the street from the planned redesign of LACMA, which is expected to cross Wilshire Blvd. and look "angular and muscular" based on the latest design proposal.
You can watch the transformation of the Petersen's exterior with this cool time lapse video and keep an eye on the progress using the museum's Work Zone Cam.
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