The Broad is a new contemporary art museum built by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. The museum, which is designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Gensler, will open September 20, 2015 with free general admission.
The museum will be home to the nearly 2,000 works of art in the Broad collection, which is among the most prominent holdings of postwar and contemporary art worldwide. With its innovative “veil-and-vault” concept, the 120,000-square-foot, $140-million building will feature two floors of gallery space to showcase The Broad’s comprehensive collection and will be the headquarters of The Broad Art Foundation’s worldwide lending library.
With its innovative “veil-and-vault” concept, the 120,000-square-foot, $140 million building features two floors of gallery space to showcase the Broad’s comprehensive collection and is the headquarters of The Broad Art Foundation’s worldwide lending library.
Dubbed “the veil and the vault,” the museum’s design merges the two key components of the building: public exhibition space and collection storage. Rather than relegate the storage to secondary status, the “vault,” plays a key role in shaping the museum experience from entry to exit.
Its heavy opaque mass is always in view, hovering midway in the building. Its carved underside shapes the lobby below, while its top surface is the floor plate of the exhibition space. The vault stores the portions of the collection not on display in the galleries or on loan, but DS+R provided viewing windows so visitors can get a sense of the intensive depth of the collection and peer right into the storage holding.
The vault is enveloped on all sides by the “veil,” an airy, honeycomb-like structure that spans across the block-long gallery and provides filtered natural daylight. Directly south of the museum is a public plaza also designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. The landscaping features 100-year-old Barouni olive trees and an open lawn, adding another parcel of critical green space to Grand Avenue. Source and photos by The Board.
Location: Los Angeles, USA
Architects: Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Partner: Gensler
Structural Engineer: Nabih Youssef & Associates, Leslie E. Robertson Associates, R.L.L.P.
Civil Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers
Mechanical, Electrical: ARUP
Construction: MATT Construction
Lighting Engineers: ARUP
Lighting Design: Tillotson Design
Vertical: Lerch Bates, La Crescenta, Calif.
Collection Storage: Solomon + Bauer, Watertown, Mass.
Area: 120,000 square-foot
Museum Total Cost: $140 million
Photographs: Iwan Baan via The Board
