This past weekend marked a transformative moment as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) celebrated the ribbon cutting of the David Geffen Galleries. The ceremony, attended by civic leaders, project collaborators, and members of the arts community, officially signaled the completion of the 900-foot-long structure that now spans Wilshire Boulevard and the grand opening of its collections for LACMA members and donors.
Following the ribbon cutting, the dialogue surrounding the project’s impact continued on Wednesday with the first public event hosted in the East West Bank Commons, a new plaza sheltered by the sweeping canopy of the galleries. Nestled between the concrete pillars, or “houses” as he calls them, architect Peter Zumthor joined Michael Govan on stage for “The Genesis Talks,” a conversation that explored the decade-long creative journey of the galleries—from the initial idea of a floating museum to the complex engineering required to make 30,000 tons of concrete hover above the city.
The building’s debut has invited a closer look at the technical rigor required to suspend such a massive form over a historic Los Angeles boulevard. The Architect’s Newspaper featured an in-depth technical profile on the project, detailing how SOM’s engineering team utilized 360 miles of post-tensioning cables and custom-mixed concrete to achieve the building’s signature 80-foot cantilevers. Meanwhile, writing in The New York Times, Michael Kimmelman noted that the “labyrinthine” galleries and their resilience to both seismic and institutional shifts “bid to alter the cultural and civic weather of Los Angeles.”
“That’s the power of the big idea,” says SOM Partner Eric Long for The Architect’s Newspaper. “Don’t be afraid of change.” The David Geffen Galleries opened for member previews this week, with the full public opening to follow on May 4.
