New centre for the Broad Art Foundation

For the first time in its 40-year history, the postwar and contemporary art collection assembled by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad will be shown to the public in its most comprehensive installation when The Broad opens on September 20th.

Aerial photo of The Broad museum by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Photography © Jeff Duran / Warren Air. Courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Although many of the artworks in the internationally renowned 2,000-piece collection have been seen by the public in relative isolation through The Broad Art Foundation’s 30-year lending library to museums around the world, the inaugural installation at The Broad’s new landmark building on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles will feature a sweeping, chronological journey through its contemporary art collection that has never before been possible in such depth.

Description of the project by Diller Scofidio + Renfro

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 was designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, will soon be open. The museum will be home to the nearly 2,000 works of art in The Broad Art Foundation and the Broads’ personal collections, which are 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 collections and will be the headquarters of The Broad Art Foundation’s worldwide lending library. The Broad is also building a 24,000-square-foot public plaza adjacent to the museum to add another parcel of critical green space to Grand Avenue.

LEED

The Broad targets LEED Silver certification. With its electric car charging stations, bike parking spaces, rooftop drains routed to street level gardens that filter runoff, high-efficiency plumbing fixtures that help reduce water use by 40 percent, and its easy access to public transit including adjacency to the new Metro Regional Connector station at the corner of 2nd Street and Hope Street, The Broad aims to be in the top tier of eco-conscious and efficient museums.

PRINCIPAL FEATURES

Dubbed “the veil and the vault,” the museum’s design merges the two key programs of the building: public exhibition space and the storage that will support The Broad Art Foundation’s extensive lending activities. 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 and public circulation routes. Its top surface is the floor of the third floor galleries.

The vault is enveloped by the “veil,” a porous, honeycomb-like, exterior structure that spans across the block-long building and provides filtered natural daylight. The museum’s “veil” lifts at the corners, welcoming visitors into an active lobby. The public is then drawn upwards via escalator, tunneling through the vault, arriving onto nearly an acre of column-free gallery space bathed in diffuse light. The gallery has 23- foot-high ceilings, and the roof is supported by 7-foot-deep steel girders. Departure from the third floor gallery space is a return trip through the vault via a winding central stair that offers glimpses into the vast holdings of the collection.

PUBLIC PLAZA, RESTAURANT AND GRAND AVENUE STREETSCAPE

Public amenities associated with The Broad include an adjacent 24,000-square-foot public plaza, a new restaurant being developed by restaurateur Bill Chait, a new mid-block traffic signal and crosswalk connecting The Broad and public plaza with MOCA and the Colburn School and additional streetscape improvements. The plaza’s bosque of 100-year-old Barouni olive trees and grass create public space for picnics, outdoor films, performances and educational events. Pedestrians will use wide stairs and an elevator at the Hope Street end of the plaza to access Hope Street and the planned 2nd and Hope Street Metro Regional Connector station.

CREDITS. DATA SHEET.-

Architects.- Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Principal-in-Charge.- Elizabeth Diller. Project Director.- Kevin Rice. Collaborators.- Kumar Atre, Oskar Arnorsson, Ryan Botts, John Chow, Gerardo Ciprian, Robert Condon, Zachary Cooley, Charles Curran, Robert Donnelly, Eliza Higgins, Christopher Hillyard, Michael Hundsnurscher, Matthew Johnson, Robert Loken, Nkiru Mokwe, William Ngo, Matthew Ostrow, Haruka Saito, Daniel Sakai, Andrea Schelly, Anne-Rachel Schiffmann, Zoe Small, Quang Truong.

Executive Architects.- Gensler. Principal-in-Charge.- Rob Jernigan. Project Director.- David Pakshong. Project Architect.- Wendi Gilbert. Collaborators.- Brianna Seabron, Nora Gordon, Greg Kromhout, Yasushi Ishida, Arpy Hatzikian, Marty Borko, Philippe Pare, Robyn Bisbee, Melanie McArtor, Patrice Hironimus, Valentin Lieu, Yupil Chon, Brenda Wentworth, Jae Rodriguez, Robert Garlipp, Jay Hardin, Alexis Denis, Ricardo Moura, Lauren Gropper, Steven Hergert, Pavlina Williams, Evangelique Zhao.

Area.- 120000.0 ftsq
Project Year.- 2015
Photographs.- Benny Chan, Iwan Baan, Jeff Duran - Warren Air
Location.- 221 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012, USA.

Construction: MATT Construction, Santa Fe Springs, Calif.
Structural Engineering: Nabih Youssef & Associates, Los Angeles, Calif. + Leslie E. Robertson Associates, R.L.L.P., New York, N.Y.
Civil Engineering: KPFF Consulting Engineers, Los Angeles, Calif.
Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Fire Life-Safety and Gallery: ARUP, Los Angeles, Calif.
Lighting Engineers (Galleries): ARUP, London, U.K.
Lighting Design: Tillotson Design, New York, N.Y.
Vertical Transportation: Lerch Bates, La Crescenta, Calif.
Collection Storage: Solomon + Bauer, Watertown, Mass.
Leadership: Eli and Edythe Broad, Founders + Joanne Heyler, Founding Director
Total Cost: $140 million.

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The Broad museum by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Photography © Benny Chan. Courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Façade detail of The Broad museum by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Photography © Gary Leonard. Image courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

The Broad museum by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Photography © Iwan Baan. Courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

The Broad museum by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Photography © Elizabeth Daniels. Courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

The Broad museum’s lobby with interior veil by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Photography © Iwan Baan. Courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

The Broad museum’s lobby with escalator by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Photography © Iwan Baan. Courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

The Broad museum's third floor galleries with skylights and interior veil by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Photography © Iwan Baan. Courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Broad museum’s by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Photography © Elizabeth Daniels.

The Broad museum at night by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Photography © Iwan Baan. Courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Scheme of The Broad museum by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Image courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Illustration of the two main components of the building—the veil and the vault. Image courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Original concept sketch by Diller Scofidio + Renfro of The Broad’s design. Image courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Site plan. The Broad museum by Diller Scofidio + Renfro of The Broad’s. Image courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Plan of The Broad museum’s first floor, including a 15,000-square-foot gallery space and outdoor public plaza. Image courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Plan 3 of The Broad museum’s first floor, including a 15,000-square-foot gallery space and outdoor public plaza. Image courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Section through the museum showing the three floors and the cantilevered portions of the second and third floors. Image courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Section through the roof museum. Image courtesy of The Broad and Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

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More information

Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio, Charles Renfro and Benjamin Gilmartin. Diller Scofidio + Renfro Studio

Diller Scofidio + Renfro Studio. Founded in 1981, Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) is a design studio whose practice spans the fields of architecture, urban design, installation art, multi-media performance, digital media, and print. With a focus on cultural and civic projects, DS+R’s work addresses the changing role of institutions and the future of cities. The studio is based in New York and is comprised of over 100 architects, designers, artists and researchers, led by four partners--Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio, Charles Renfro and Benjamin Gilmartin.

DS+R completed two of the largest architecture and planning initiatives in New York City’s recent history: the adaptive reuse of an obsolete, industrial rail infrastructure into the High Line, a 1.5 mile-long public park, and the transformation of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ half-century-old campus. The studio is currently engaged in two more projects significant to New York, scheduled to open in 2019: The Shed, the first multi-arts center designed to commission, produce, and present all types of performing arts, visual arts, and popular culture, and the renovation and expansion of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Most recently, the studio was also selected to design: Adelaide Contemporary, a new gallery and public sculpture park in South Australia; the Centre for Music, which will be a permanent home for the London Symphony Orchestra; and a new collection and research centre for the V&A in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Recent projects include the 35-acre Zaryadye Park adjacent to the Kremlin in Moscow; the Museum of Image & Sound on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro; The Broad, a contemporary art museum in Los Angeles; the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive at the University of California, Berkeley; the Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center at Columbia University in New York; and The Juilliard School in Tianjin, China.

DS+R’s independent work includes the Blur Building, a pavilion made of fog on Lake Neuchâtel for the Swiss Expo; Exit, an immersive data-driven installation about human migration at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris; Charles James: Beyond Fashion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; Arbores Laetae, an animated micro-park for the Liverpool Biennial; Musings on a Glass Box at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris; and Pierre Chareau: Modern Architecture and Design at the Jewish Museum in New York. A major retrospective of DS+R’s work was mounted at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Most recently, the studio designed two site-specific installations at the 2018 Venice Biennale and the Costume Institute’s Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. DS+R also directed and produced The Mile-Long Opera: a biography of 7 o’clock, a free, choral performance featuring 1,000 singers atop the High Line, co-created with David Lang.

DS+R has authored several books: The High Line (Phaidon Press, 2015), Lincoln Center Inside Out: An Architectural Account (Damiani, 2013), Flesh: Architectural Probes (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011), Blur: The Making of Nothing (Harry N. Abrams, 2002), and Back to the Front: Tourisms of War (Princeton Architectural Press, 1996).

DS+R has been distinguished with the first MacArthur Foundation fellowship awarded in the field of architecture, Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential" list, the Smithsonian Institution's 2005 National Design Award, the Medal of Honor and the President's Award from AIA New York, and Wall Street Journal Magazine's 2017 Architecture Innovator of the Year Award. Ricardo Scofidio and Elizabeth Diller are fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and are International Fellows at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Elizabeth Diller

Elizabeth Diller, (Poland,1954), is a partner of Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). Alongside partner Ricardo Scofidio, Diller’s cross-genre work has been distinguished with TIME’s "100 Most Influential People" list and the first MacArthur Foundation fellowship awarded in the field of architecture.

Elizabeth Diller has also received the Wolf Prize in Architecture. Most recently, she led two cultural works significant to New York: The Shed and the expansion of MoMA. Diller also co-created, -directed and -produced The Mile-Long Opera, an immersive choral work staged on the High Line. Diller is a member of the UN Council on Urban Initiatives and a Professor of Architectural Design at Princeton University.

Ricardo Scofidio

Ricardo Scofidio, AIA (New York,1935), is a partner of Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). Alongside partner Elizabeth Diller, Ric’s cross-genre work has been distinguished with TIME’s "100 Most Influential People" list and the first MacArthur Foundation fellowship awarded in the field of architecture. He led the design of the High Line – the adaptive reuse of an obsolete, industrial rail infrastructure into a 1.5 mile-long public park, Blur Building – a pavilion made of fog on Lake Neuchâtel for the 2002 Swiss Expo, and contributed to the redesign of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, and The Broad in Los Angeles.

Ric spearheads many of the studio’s independent works, including Soft Sell, a video installation in an abandoned porn theatre in Times Square; Tourisms: suitCase Studies, an investigation of American tourist attractions at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; and Musings on a Glass Box for the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris. He is a Professor Emeritus at The Cooper Union School of Architecture.

CHARLES RENFRO

Charles Renfro, AIA (Baytown, Texas in 1964) joined Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) in 1997 and became a Partner in 2004. He led the design and construction of the studio’s first concert hall outside of the US - The Tianjin Juilliard School in China - as well as the studio's first public park outside of the US - Zaryadye Park in Moscow. Charles has also led the design of much of DS+R's academic portfolio, with projects completed at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Brown University, the University of Chicago, and the recently completed Columbia Business School.

Charles is also leading the design of two projects in his native Texas: the renovation of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Kalita Humphreys Theater in Dallas, and Sarofim Hall, a new home for Rice University’s Visual Arts department in Houston. Charles is the Co-President of BOFFO, a nonprofit organization that supports the work of queer LGBTQ+ BIPOC artists and designers. He has twice been recognized with the "Out100" list and has also been distinguished as a notable LGBTQ leader by Crain's New York Business. He is a faculty member of the School of Visual Arts.

Published on: September 1, 2015

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