One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
LACMA's New Redesign Arches Over Wilshire Boulevard (And Saves The Tar Pits)
Sometimes art can be over our heads, and if the new LACMA redesign comes to fruition, it will literally be over our heads when we drive down Wilshire Boulevard.
After LACMA's next door neighbors at the Page Museum balked at Peter Zumthor's original plan for the future of the museum, the museum and architect unveiled a new design: it's an amorphous blob of a building that stretches over and across Wilshire Boulevard— and more importantly away from the tar pits.
As LA Observed noted, the new museum building would be one of only a handful of structures that currently span Wilshire Boulevard. Architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne of the LA Times said the new plan "makes the building foremost an urban object, part of the boulevard and the public realm." Honestly almost anything aside from the current buildings, which look like an imposing and inaccessible art prison, will do.
Aside from the rerouting of the building, the plan is essentially the same as before with the glass building being perched 30 feet above the ground on glass columns, according to the New York Times. The building would span across the street and into what is currently a museum parking lot at Wilshire and Spaulding. Drivers will be able to look into the galleries from the street below, further fueling the myth that art is for everyone (only after you pay for admission). Jokes about the snooty art world aside, the new building plan is actually pretty cool.
The redesign seems to have support on all fronts, including LACMA and Page Museum honchos and L.A. City government. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, whose district includes the LACMA grounds, called the new plan, "more iconic than his original design. It's a win-win." The original plan was estimated to cost $650 mil, though other architects have estimated it could run as high as $1 billion. A new figure for the updated plan won't be revealed until the end of next spring after feasibility studies have been done.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
