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'Architecture of Life' exhibition marks opening of DS+R-designed new Berkeley Art Museum next week

2016-01-25T15:51:00-05:00

Commissioned to convert an abandoned printing plant into a university art museum, Diller Scofidio + Renfro took inspiration from fresh fruit. The architects left the original building intact, stretching a sleek skin around it, split open at the front. The new Berkeley Art Museum will open next week with an exhibition that historically contextualizes Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s design process, and provides a formidable storehouse of ideas for future architecture.

Recent photo of the almost completed structure on January 21. (Image via @BAMPFA on Twitter.)

Previously on Archinect: DS+R's new Berkeley Art Museum gets opening date

DS+R's new Berkeley Art Museum gets opening date

2015-06-29T18:44:00-04:00

After having to relocate its facilities due to seismic issues, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archives, collectively known as BAM/PFA, will open its new home on January 31, 2016 in Downtown Berkeley. Designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the $112M project integrates a preexisting art deco building, the former printing plant of neighboring UC Berkeley, into a 35K sq ft new structure. All in all, the new BAM/PFA will include two theaters, a performance space, cafe, four study spaces (the museum has a strong connection with UC Berkeley's film and art departments), an "art-making lab", and a reading room.

Given its hybrid exhibition/screening requirements, BAM/PFA's total gallery space is relatively small at 25k square feet – compared to Snøhetta's SFMOMA across the bay at 130K, or Renzo Piano's new Whitney at 50K. The museum's inaugural exhibition, "Architecture of Life", will "explore the ways that architecture—as concept, metaphor, and practice—illuminates aspects of life ex...

DS+R's Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive announces first exhibit, preps for 2016 opening

2015-03-27T17:26:00-04:00

The Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive recently revealed details to their inaugural exhibition and other fun-sounding programs as they prepare to move into their new downtown Berkeley location at Oxford and Center Streets, across the University of California, Berkeley campus. The new museum -- which Diller Scofidio + Renfro was commissioned to design -- is scheduled to open in early 2016.

With DS + R as design architect, the $112 million project will integrate the former UC Berkeley printing plant and a new steel-clad curvilinear structure, encompassing about 82,000 sq.ft total. The new structure will include improved accessible spaces to house BAM/PFA's exhibition spaces, film screenings, offices, and other public amenities. On the other hand, the project preserves some original elements of the UC Berkeley printing plant such as the north-facing sawtooth roof to let natural light filter into the ground-floor galleries.

The new structure will also feature two film theaters (232 ...

Now sitting empty, brutalist Berkeley Art Museum building faces unclear future

2015-02-23T18:18:00-05:00

On December 21, 2014, the Berkeley Art Museum permanently closed its iconic Modern building in preparation for a move to a nearby new building in 2016. Considered by many to be the Bay Area’s most remarkable example of Brutalism [...]. Although the building is a local landmark and listed on the National Register, its intricate concrete forms pose seismic safety risks, leaving a future for the building unclear.

A Berkeley Museum Wrapped in Honeycomb

2008-11-25T12:42:00-05:00

I have no idea whether, in this dismal economic climate, the University of California will find the money to build its new art museum here. But if it fails, it will be a blow to those of us who champion provocative architecture in the United States. - Nicolai Ouroussoff, NYT