The OBDM is a contemporary art and design museum located in the heart of the Old Bank District of Downtown Los Angeles.
The project is part adaptive re-use and part new construction, capitalizing on the tension between historical and contemporary architecture.
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.
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.
A sequence of discrete objects draws visitors through the space. Objects penetrate through floors, peek over rooftops, and inhabit dark interior voids.
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.
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.
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.
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
