‘Amoeba monster,’ ‘elegant,’ ‘bunker,’ ‘futurist’: Angelenos react to the new LACMA building

More than two decades after planning for the transformation of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art began — including more than a decade of work with architect Peter Zumthor and five years of construction — the new LACMA building is finally open to the public.

Well, sort of.

For a limited time (July 3-7), members of LACMA and local kids (on July 6) can get previews of the building — officially called the David Geffen Galleries — before the art is installed and the full museum opening, scheduled for April 2026.

The previews of the new concrete and glass building straddling Wilshire Boulevard kicked off in style last week with three nights of performances featuring composer, bandleader and saxophonist Kamasi Washington presenting his six-movement suite Harmony of Difference, with the help of more than 100 musicians.

The building has faced a fair share of criticisms — from the cost, to the choice of construction materials, to the look of the design. But it also has some big supporters.

We were curious to hear from attendees of the previews and people who live in the neighborhood about their impressions of the new building, so we got their reactions at an early preview night at LACMA this week:

‘It’s fabulous’

Holly Marie Lennon Durivage (L) and  Terrence Charles Durivage Lennon (R) outside the new David Geffen Galleries building at LACMA.

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“I love it” was North Hollywood resident Holly Marie Lennon Durivage’s first reaction to the look of the building’s exterior.

Her husband Terrence added, “I do too. It has kind of that Jetsons feel to it, you know? This new sweeping look of the gallery going across Wilshire. I think it's got a real nice aesthetic to it.”

Holly was pleased that the new building seemed to complement LACMA’s Pavilion for Japanese Art: “ I think this has a similar aesthetic. It's very low and curved and a lot of glass. I think it's fabulous, so we're excited to go inside. We're seeing this tiny bit, but I think it's exciting and I think it's great for Los Angeles.”

'Like it was AI'

LACMA members are getting a preview of the new David Geffen Galleries from July 3-7.

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Miracle Mile resident Pep Love’s first reaction to the building: “It  looks almost like it was AI.”

It also struck him as reminiscent of some “odd” buildings in Culver City designed by architect Eric Owen Moss.

Even though he saw the construction happening on the building every day, he said it took him a while "to actually connect that what they were building that was going over the road was also part of the new structure.”

His overall impression: “ It gives me a vision of like this futurist vision for L.A.”

'Amoeba monster'

Savannah Merritt (L) and John Buckley (R) were among the first to see inside the new David Geffen Galleries.

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LACMA members Savannah Merritt and John Buckley came from the east side for the preview and said they were impressed with what they saw.

Merritt said one of her first thoughts walking up to the building was: “Amoeba monster. It looks like this cool concrete creature that holds art.”

She added that on its own, "it's really, really cool, but together with the other buildings in Museum Row, it is much more iconic as this collective.”

As for the criticisms of the design?

“ It's easy when there's any sort of new building or public art, people like to kind of pick it apart and then years later they are totally fine with it and love it," Buckley said. "You know, the Eiffel Tower was this horrible, ugly thing when it was put in, and now it's one of the most beautiful things in the world.”

‘A bunker look,’ (but also) ‘It’s great’

Kin Lee (L) and Sywn Hsiao (R) before a preview event for LACMA's new David Geffen Galleries.

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“I think it's great," said Kin Lee, an Irvine resident and long-time LACMA member. "The old buildings were really kind of showing their age and this new building looks modern and maybe it'll be another landmark.”

He had some mixed feelings too.

“It doesn't seem to be as open and welcome as we’d hope, because it's kind of a bunker look here with all the concrete," he said.

But also, he hoped the single-story design of the galleries would be an improvement from the old buildings, recalling previously having to go up several floors to see the Latin American art collection:  “Who would be able to find that if you don't purposefully look and know there's a destination?”

Inside a preview of the new David Geffen Galleries on July 1, 2025.

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For now, Lee said he wanted to reserve judgment, for at least “three to five years” before making a call on whether the building would be “a failure or a success.”

“I mean, it attracts attention,” he said. “ But does it age well? We don't know.”