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Inside the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County’s new $75 million expansion

2024-11-18T07:20:00-05:00

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM) has opened its $75 million NHM Commons expansion to the public. Designed by Frederick Fisher and Partners, with landscape architecture by Studio-MLA and exhibition spaces by Studio Joseph, the NHM Commons comprises approximately 75,000 square feet of renovated and newly constructed space.

Image credit: Benny Chan

The centerpiece of the design is a transparent glass façade, creating a visual connection between the museum and Exposition Park. Inside, the Commons Theater and various multipurpose spaces have been built to accommodate an expanded slate of community-centered programming. The new spaces facilitate engagement with science, culture, and nature, including areas for those visiting without a ticket.

Image credit: Benny Chan

Outside, Studio-MLA has developed a community plaza in collaboration with Native American advisors, featuring sustainable planting, Tongva-inspired mortar i...

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County's $75 million NHM Commons expansion tops out in Exposition Park

2023-05-30T13:05:00-04:00

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County has just celebrated its topping out for the new 75,000-square-foot NHM Commons expansion led by LA mainstays Studio-MLA and Frederick Fisher and Partners.

The project creates a new wing and community hub on the southwest side of the museum’s campus in Exposition Park and will be open to the public by the end of next year following a multi-year construction phase.

The museum describes: “The indoor/outdoor NHM Commons spaces will enable NHM to expand its community-centered, co-created programming, thereby further connecting the public with science, nature, culture, heritage, and community, while creating opportunities for people to come together to experience NHM, with or without a ticket.”

NHMLAC President and Director Dr. Lori Bettison-Varga. Photo by Wade Hammond, courtesy of NHMLAC.

At last week’s special beam signing ceremony, NHMLAC President and Director Dr. Lori Bettison-Varga added: “This transformative expansion will be a dynam...

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles shares updates on new community-focused NHM Commons and collaboration with Native American community leaders

2022-12-09T17:09:00-05:00

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County has announced updated plans for a Studio-MLA and Frederick Fisher and Partners-led expansion that is now taking shape for the year 2024.

New renderings of the 60,000-square-foot project appear to add interior details to the previous announcement, which showcased a unique transparent "curated facade" meant to exhibit pieces from the museum similar to a giant display case or vitrine.

As part of the effort, the museum has formed two new advisory groups, the NHM Commons Native American Advisory Council and the NHM Commons Advisory Coalition. The groups will advise the design team (which now also includes New York-based Studio Joseph) as to how best to determine "ways to build a sense of welcome, acknowledgment, and respect for Native people who enter this space and opportunities to remind, express to and educate visitors that Los Angeles is on Native land."

Renderings by Frederick Fisher and Partners, Studio MLA, and Studio Joseph. Courte...