Structural Demolition Underway for Landmark Project in Los Angeles

For more than five decades, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has stewarded art from all eras and cultures. As an important cultural center not only in Los Angeles but also in all of Southern California, LACMA is committed to its mission of serving the public through art by expanding and upgrading its collections.

LACMA has undertaken five expansion projects over the years to house the treasures entrusted to the museum in state-of-theart facilities. But this time, the museum is planning a more ambitious transformation, one that will elevate the museum as a global destination. After extensive project development, Clark officially began construction of the LACMA Building for the Permanent Collection in early April with the structural demolition of the Leo S. Bing Center, one of four buildings to be replaced by the new building.

Along with three other buildings that make up the LACMA campus, these aging, deteriorating structures had many serious structural issues and problems with plumbing, sewage, and lack of methane and seismic mitigation. After the County of Los Angeles and LACMA’s Board of Trustees determined that the cost to do even minimal repairs was too prohibitive, the stage was set for the re-imagining of a museum that truly speaks to the heart and soul of the city.

Designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor, the LACMA Building for the Permanent Collection will replace those four buildings with one 347,500-square-foot structure, representing a bold new vision for how art museums can connect and engage with visitors. An expansive space that will straddle Los Angeles’s famed Wilshire Boulevard, the Building for the Permanent Collection will feature 110,000 square feet of gallery space in a single level to display and present art in a non-hierarchical, egalitarian way. According to LACMA, this horizontal design “avoids giving more prominence to any specific culture, tradition, or era.” Elevating the structure will also allow space for 3.5 acres of new urban park space with sculpture gardens. LACMA’s iconic “Urban Light” and “Levitated Mass” installations, as well as the Broad Contemporary Art Museum, Resnick Pavilion, and the Pavilion for Japanese Art, will remain untouched.

As part of the new building, Clark will construct a new theater, education spaces, three restaurants, a museum shop, multi-purpose event spaces, and ancillary facilities. The LACMA Building for the Permanent Collection is slated to open to the public in 2024.