![Old Bank District Museum](https://aasarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/Old-Bank-District-Museum-by-Tom-Wiscombe-Architecture-01-474x316.jpg)
The OBDM is a contemporary art and design museum located in the heart of the Old Bank District of Downtown Los Angeles.
![Old Bank District Museum](https://aasarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/Old-Bank-District-Museum-by-Tom-Wiscombe-Architecture-02-474x267.jpg)
The project is part adaptive re-use and part new construction, capitalizing on the tension between historical and contemporary architecture.
![Old Bank District Museum](https://aasarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/Old-Bank-District-Museum-by-Tom-Wiscombe-Architecture-03-474x328.jpg)
The project is located beneath, inside of, and on top of the Farmer’s & Merchant’s Bank, the Hellman Building, and the Bankhouse Garage at 4th and Main Street.
![Old Bank District Museum](https://aasarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/Old-Bank-District-Museum-by-Tom-Wiscombe-Architecture-04-474x315.jpg)
The Museum is a three dimensional space that weaves through these buildings, inhabiting their hidden or forgotten spaces. It is an unorthodox museum form, in the sense that it withdraws from iconicity and creates a world within a world.
![Old Bank District Museum](https://aasarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/Old-Bank-District-Museum-by-Tom-Wiscombe-Architecture-05-474x315.jpg)
A sequence of discrete objects draws visitors through the space. Objects penetrate through floors, peek over rooftops, and inhabit dark interior voids.
![Old Bank District Museum](https://aasarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/Old-Bank-District-Museum-by-Tom-Wiscombe-Architecture-06-474x320.jpg)
The main 45,000 SF. exhibition space is located in basement and sub-basement spaces that include turn-of-the-century bank vaults that become part of the ensemble.
![Old Bank District Museum](https://aasarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/Old-Bank-District-Museum-by-Tom-Wiscombe-Architecture-07-474x315.jpg)
On the roof of the Bankhouse Garage is a 35,000 SF. Sculpture Garden with a Café and Amphitheater, creating a new ground in the city.
![Old Bank District Museum](https://aasarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/Old-Bank-District-Museum-by-Tom-Wiscombe-Architecture-08-474x315.jpg)
In this way, a new form of museum is created, one which weaves art through the heart of downtown and connects it to the everyday life of the community. Source by Tom Wiscombe Architecture.
![Old Bank District Museum](https://aasarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/Old-Bank-District-Museum-by-Tom-Wiscombe-Architecture-10-474x289.jpg)
Location: Los Angesles, USA
Architect: Tom Wiscombe Architecture
Structural: Greg Otto, Walter P Moore
Floor Area: 80,000 sf
Client: Tom Gilmore and Jerri Perrone, Gilmore Associates
Images: Courtesy of Tom Wiscombe Architecture
![Old Bank District Museum](https://aasarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/Old-Bank-District-Museum-by-Tom-Wiscombe-Architecture-11-474x315.jpg)
![Old Bank District Museum](https://aasarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/Old-Bank-District-Museum-by-Tom-Wiscombe-Architecture-14-474x324.jpg)
![Old Bank District Museum](https://aasarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/Old-Bank-District-Museum-by-Tom-Wiscombe-Architecture-15-474x322.jpg)
![Old Bank District Museum](https://aasarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/Old-Bank-District-Museum-by-Tom-Wiscombe-Architecture-16-474x316.jpg)
![Old Bank District Museum](https://aasarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/Old-Bank-District-Museum-by-Tom-Wiscombe-Architecture-19-474x322.jpg)
![Old Bank District Museum](https://aasarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/Old-Bank-District-Museum-by-Tom-Wiscombe-Architecture-20-474x322.jpg)