LACMA Expands

February 28, 2008 on 4:28 pm | In Art, - Adam |

After years in the making, Phase 1 of LACMA’s Transformation is now a celebrated reality. This includes The Broad Contemporary Art Museum, the BP Grand Entrance, and the new modern galleries — which all opened their doors this month.

The $56 million BCAM, designed by Renzo Piano, is the county art museum’s first home for contemporary art. It mainly contains pieces from the massive holdings of LACMA trustee and donor Eli Broad and wife Edythe, who funded BCAM’s construction.

Architectural drawings from Renzo Pianos designs for the new LACMA addition

A longtime trustee of LACMA, Broad stepped in after voters rejected a bond issue in 2002 that would have paid for a massive redesign of the complex. Instead, Broad and his wife, Edythe, footed the entire $56 million needed to build the new wing. He attacked the project with his trademark efficiency, convincing Italian architect Renzo Piano, famous for his work on the Centre Pompidou in Paris and a dozen other prominent museums, to come on board. Piano agreed only if he could help redesign the entire museum complex, something Broad got the rest of the trustees to agree to.

Adam
(from Starworks Los Angeles)