peter zumthor's LACMA plan shown in 'the presence of the past'

peter zumthor’s plans for LACMA are unveiled in ‘the presence of the past’
all images courtesy of los angeles county museum of art

peter zumthor is proposing to raze the existing LACMA campus and build a sinuous museum complex that would double as the largest solar farm in an urban environment. dramatically curved edges characterize the two-level horizontal structure that stretches 775 feet at its longest point. seeking to consolidate public space and integrate with the city, the project’s sustainability measures would enable the institution to supply more energy back to the los angeles grid as well as provide a much need expanse of green space that continues hancock park.

peter zumthor’s plans for LACMA are unveiled in ‘the presence of the past’
image © gary friedman / los angeles times

the opened paths of circulation allow visitors to ambulate from the page museum and the la brea tar pits to michael heizer’s ‘levitated mass’ while allowing a seamless entrance to interior gallery spaces with 360 degrees of glazing. the glass democratizes art viewership by creating an open, visually accessible space. the amoebic-shaped perimeter is inserted with an orthogonal system of walls that normalize the spaces for exhibition. the lack of a grand entrance in favor of a network of staircases obliterates the tendency toward a euro-centric hierarchy and allows the museum to equally emphasize a vast collection of works from the americas, asia, africa and europe.

while the structure contains roughly the same total square footage of the existing four buildings, the architecture doubles the accessibility to artwork, in large part due to a more considered composition of spaces under the authorship of one architect. the models of the proposed building can be seen as part of the exhibit ‘presence of the past’ on view now through september 15, 2013.

see designboom’s previous coverage of the LACMA campus here.

image © gary friedman / los angeles times

in progress view of the model
image © gary friedman / los angeles times

the horizontal building is a distinct mark on the car-culture heavy los angeles landscape
image © gary friedman / los angeles times