'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...

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

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