Eli Broad, who along with his wife Edythe is the patron behind the newly opened Broad museum in downtown Los Angeles, knew that there would be a big problem when he secured a site next to the Walt Disney Concert Hall on Grand Avenue. “How do you design a building that doesn’t clash with Frank Gehry’s masterpiece, but also is not anonymous?” asked Broad at one of the many opening events last week. Broad found the answer with Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the New York–based architecture firm responsible for projects like the High Line in New York and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston.
Elizabeth Diller, a principal at the firm and the Broad project lead, knew that there was no point in even trying to compete with Gehry’s mammoth shiny silver curves. “We opted for a relationship of contrast to our neighbor,” she said at the press preview. “Porous and matte next to smooth and shiny. And modest—we brought our exuberant curves inside of the building.” The $140 million structure comprises two main features dubbed the veil (the white façade dotted with holes) and the vault (the space dedicated to Broad’s vast collection of contemporary art).
Diller took the museum’s stored art, which at most institutions is hidden from public view, and made it visible through a series of interior windows on the second floor of the building. Inside the museum, space-age elevators and escalators transport visitors between the two gallery floors. A modular display system allows the museum to put up and take down walls to exhibit the Broad’s collection of Ruschas, Basquiats, Baldessaris, and Kusamas.
According to Broad, “The veil and vault design enabled us to do three things: have amazing public gallery space; consolidate the storage of almost 2,000 works; and hold our own next to Walt Disney Concert Hall. Without any doubt, DS+R accomplished all three.”
The Broad Museum, 221 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles; thebroad.org
