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Demolition of LACMA complex is well underway

2020-08-20T14:28:00-04:00

The Ahmanson Building is the last standing structure of four buildings being demolished at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The Leo S. Bing Center is completely gone; construction workers are removing the foundations of the Hammer and Art of the Americas buildings. Demolition of the Ahmanson began this week, museum representative Jessica Youn said Tuesday, and should be completed “in the last quarter” of this year.

Workers have made swift progress demolishing the history William L Pereira and Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates-designed buildings on the Los Angeles County Museum of Art campus.

Demolition of Los Angeles County Art Museum @LACMA continues @MiracleMileLA #LosAngeles @KNX1070 pic.twitter.com/VSjbdILB8V
— Frank Mottek (@frankmottek) August 11, 2020

Of the three existing buildings, two have been wiped away with the third currently undergoing demolition. LACMA envisions completing the demolition of the existing buildings sometime toward the end of 2020 so that work on the Atelier Peter Zumthor-designed replacement structures can begin. A completion date for that project has yet to be announced.

Six alternative proposals for LACMA site are revealed

2020-04-27T16:58:00-04:00

The Citizens Brigade for Saving LACMA has announced a list of finalist entries for the group’s LACMA Not LackMA design competition that includes proposals from Barkow Leibinger, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Kaya Design, Paul Murdoch Architects, Reiser + Umemoto, and TheeAe (The Evolved Architectural Eclectic).

The Citizens’ Brigade to Save LACMA is unaffiliated with the registered not-for-profit advocacy group Save LACMA that is moving ahead with a proposed ballot initiative seeking greater transparency and public accountability for the Atelier Peter Zumthor-designed proposal that is currently under construction.

Describing the intention behind the competition, Citizens’ Bridgade to Save LACMA co-chair Joseph Giovannini explains in an announcement, “Our call for ideas was to open and make public what has been a closed process, and to present alternatives that inspire and show a way forward for a LACMA that is improved, fresh, and practical, not reduced and compromised.” Greg Goldin, fellow ...

LACMA demolition is underway

2020-04-08T17:08:00-04:00

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art confirmed Tuesday that it officially began demolition work, part of the controversial $750-million project to build a Peter Zumthor-designed main building. The work that began Monday focused on the museum’s 1965 Leo S. Bing Center, a 600-seat theater designed by architect William L. Pereira that has been used for film screenings, musical performances, talks and other events.

A LACMA spokesperson tells The Los Angeles Times that demolition crews are adhering to social distancing guidelines during the demolition process in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Does LACMA have its financial house in order?

2020-02-21T14:37:00-05:00

According to the museum’s most recent 990 tax forms, filed in 2018, LACMA is carrying $331 million in county bond debt that was used to pay for construction of the Resnick Pavilion, the Broad Contemporary Art Museum, the Pritzker Parking Garage and other projects. In addition to that debt, the museum has $112 million in other liabilities, such as accounts payable and accrued expenses. This brings LACMA’s total debt to almost $443 million.

Carolina Miranda of The Los Angeles Times takes a hard look at the finances for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) as the institution prepares for the imminent demolition of its legacy William L. Pereira Associates- and Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer-designed campus to make way for a $750 million Atelier Peter Zumthor-designed replacement facility.

In the report, Miranda compares LACMA's assets and debts with those of other leading cultural institutions around the country, finding that the Los Angeles museum is carrying an abnormally high debt-ratio. The worrisome financial situation has already lead to a series of revisions for the project, including a one substantial downsizing.

Demolition of William Pereira-designed buildings gets underway at LACMA

2020-01-14T13:56:00-05:00

Demolition has started to take place at the existing Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art (LACMA) complex, where a collection of buildings designed by William Pereira and Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates are expected to give way for a new structure designed by Atelier Peter Zumthor.

According to Urbanize.la, the institution began to demolish the existing complex as the new year got under way. The existing collection of Late Modernist and Postmodern buildings will be cleared to make room for a new single-level gallery space designed by Zumthor set to span over Wilshire Boulevard to the south.

The controversial plan for the 350,000-squar...

Save LACMA group could challenge museum proposal at the ballot box

2019-12-16T20:48:00-05:00

Save LACMA, a non-profit entity that has formed in response to public outcry against the controversial Atelier Peter Zumthor-led replacement proposal for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) campus, has announced that it is considering placing a ballot measure on the 2020 ballot that could challenge the standing of the project as recently approved.

In a fundraising email sent to the group's newsletter subscribers, Rob Hollman, Board Chair for Save LACMA, writes that the group has recently retained the services of the ballot initiative law expert Bradley Hertz and the Sutton Law Firm, where Hertz is a Partner.

Bird's eye view looking east. Image by Atelier Peter Zumthor & Partner/The Boundary

In the message, Hollman writes, "After thoroughly briefing Bradley on LACMA's situation, and the museum’s insistence on moving forward with demolition of its existing campus to clear space for an unpopular, undersized and underfunded new building by Peter Zumthor, he suggested a bold li...