Archinect - News

"Its skin feels hermetic and overwrought"

2015-12-04T12:45:00-05:00

But overall the Broad is a disappointment, and the ways in which it fails are more than a little concerning. Its incoherence, its poor urbanism and its unoriginality suggest that the transition from critics to makers may have DS + R stumped...The Broad’s failures of urban design are its biggest and most disappointing surprise.

Sarah Williams Goldhagen pens a critique of Diller Scofidio + Renfro's The Broad.

Archinect's critical round-up of Los Angeles' Broad Museum

2015-09-23T15:50:00-04:00

From a super-sized cheese grater, to a contraceptive sponge, to an inadvertent fun house ride, the critics have thoroughly analogized the new Broad museum in mostly positive (if occasionally biting) reviews. To follow up with Amelia's review, published earlier today, we offer some other critical perspectives on LA's latest architectural landmark.

The L.A. Times' Christopher Hawthorne frames the museum's relative success principally in terms of the political and physical struggle it took to realize it (Broad is currently suing the structure's skin fabricators for what he claims were costly, time-delaying fabrication errors). "It wouldn't be fair to say that the museum, which has moments of real charm, buckles under the burden of those expectations and conflicts. But in a number of places, including its surprisingly punchless facade, it shows the considerable strain of holding up that weight."

Hawthorne also reflects on the building in terms of Diller Scofidio + Renfro's overall body of...

Leading up to its September-20 opening, Christopher Hawthorne reviews the new Broad museum

2015-08-31T14:15:00-04:00

The elements of the Broad that have been most closely scrutinized or most often reworked, in fact, are the most uneven. It is only in the relative shadows — in the peripheral or easily overlooked spaces, or in the rooms added or enlarged late in the design process — that the architecture of the museum really comes to life.

Hole, no: Archinect's comparison of exterior facades

2015-08-20T09:07:00-04:00

There's a thin line (or radius, in this case) between what enhances a design and what simply makes it look like it's trying too hard. In the case of buildings with circular openings on their exterior facades, the effect is often visually arresting, but is it good architecture? The COR building in Miami is arguably a blend of both: its proposed highly sustainable wind turbines, mounted in the circular openings of the exterior facade, make it stand out on the skyline as well as on energy-savings meters. Compare this to the Dream Downtown Hotel in Manhattan (see below), which is...well, it doesn't have wind turbines in its holes, let's put it that way.

However, the Dream Downtown Hotel is aiming for an altogether different effect, which it achieves brilliantly. Thanks to the combination of stately steel and outsize circular holes, it's quite visually attractive without being ostentatious.

Presumably, guests would want to stay here because it's interesting without tipping over into Las Ve...

So what's new at the Broad?

2015-02-16T14:44:00-05:00

Architect Elizabeth Diller [...] stood on the Grand Avenue sidewalk Friday morning in front of the Broad museum, which she designed with her New York firm, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and is set to open Sept. 20. Was she giving an architectural preview? Doing damage control? Trying to regain some influence over the narrative of the museum’s construction, which has been beset by delays, fabrication problems and legal wrangling? The answer seemed to be some combination of the three.

Previously

DS+R's Broad Museum set to open on Sept. 20, with a Feb. 15 preview

2015-02-05T15:30:00-05:00

The opening art display in September will offer an array of greatest hits from the more than 2,000 pieces the Broads have amassed. The show will range through some 60 years of post-World War II art, arranged in "predominantly chronological" order from the 1950s to a recently acquired massive video installation created in 2012.

For $10, you can get a one-day not-so-sneak preview in the museum on February 15.

Previously:

Is The Broad Museum's newly unveiled facade living up to its renderings?

The Broad Kinda Sorta Has an Opening Date: Fall 2015

Los Angeles cultural boom gives city’s artists spaces they can call home

Eli Broad’s Art Showcase in Los Angeles, Still Unfinished, Sues Over Delays

Eli Broad's art museum, designed by DS+R, to open in late 2014 and will offer free admission

Who pays for the new private museums after the death of their aging founders?

2015-01-08T15:16:00-05:00

From the opening of the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris in October to the construction of The Broad in Los Angeles now set to open this autumn, the model of the single-donor museum is thriving. [...] what will happen to these new institutions on the death of the founder or the decline in their collecting activity. [...] To what extent have these museum founders made plans to ensure the vitality and flexibility of their prized institutions beyond their own lifetimes?

Is The Broad Museum's newly unveiled facade living up to its renderings?

2015-01-02T18:31:00-05:00

The facade of Bunker Hill's The Broad museum was officially unveiled this morning as workers removed the last of the exterior scaffolding, and things are not looking quite as originally envisioned. The design, by starchitects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, was originally advertised as an "innovative veil" that will activate "two-way views that connect the museum and the street"; today it's been updated to be, well, a bit less innovative.

For comparison - the rendered promise:

Editor's Picks #395

2014-11-28T13:12:00-05:00

Julia Ingalls reviews, the built work and paper architecture of Jimenez Lai. To wit "regardless of the medium...Understanding the role of storytelling within design is fundamental to all of Lai's work".

jla-x commented "The most interesting drawing that he did was a series of plans of a space ship city...really cool how he treated all surfaces as plan (the drawing was in zero gravity...)...A guy like him would be really great at film...I would love to see his drawings animated into short films". tanya enjoyed reading the article and summed up why "Understanding space from a different viewpoint , experiencing a variety of emotions while inhabiting a space , having the luxury to change the vibe of a specifically designed space, a sense of play within architecture, playing around with the art/part of architecture !"

Paul Keskeys, penned A First-Hand View of Gentrification in San Francisco. Arch2133 wasn’t happy "I really don't understand neutral positions like this and it leaves a bad t...

The Broad Kinda Sorta Has an Opening Date: Fall 2015

2014-10-29T14:41:00-04:00

When we last checked in with Eli Broad’s eponymous downtown museum, its fall 2014 debut had been pushed back to some time in 2015. Today it was announced that the institution will open in fall 2015, although no precise date was given. [...] The multi-story building, designed Diller Scofidio + Renfro, is still in the midst of construction. When it opens it will join two MOCA facilities and the Japanese American National Museum, making the northern end of downtown something of a museum hub.

Previously:

Los Angeles cultural boom gives city’s artists spaces they can call home

2014-10-27T13:30:00-04:00

“People used to complain that people went to New York to buy what they could buy in LA,” said Kathy Halbreich, the associate director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. “I don’t think that happens anymore. I think there’s a recognition that the city matters, that the people aren’t just there for the weather. You see a level of ambition that’s been ratcheted up.”

Eli Broad’s Art Showcase in Los Angeles, Still Unfinished, Sues Over Delays

2014-06-03T21:42:00-04:00

The flagship museum of the billionaire financier and art collector Eli Broad, still under construction, has filed a $19.8 million lawsuit against a German company for what it describes as delays in fabricating the building blocks for its unusual latticed facade.

Eli Broad's art museum, designed by DS+R, to open in late 2014 and will offer free admission

2013-09-17T14:27:00-04:00

“It has long been our goal to ensure that the contemporary artworks in the Broad collections are seen by the broadest possible public,” said Eli Broad. “We believe that free general admission to The Broad will help draw visitors to all of the cultural institutions along Grand Avenue.”

The Broad, Los Angeles’s newest contemporary art museum on Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, will offer free general admission when it opens in late 2014, founders Eli and Edythe Broad announced today.

At a hard hat tour and preview of the museum, the Broads were joined by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in announcing that the inaugural exhibition and permanent collection will be open to the public at no charge.

Following its inaugural exhibition, The Broad will occasionally present ticketed special exhibitions and will offer discounts to those exhibitions to MOCA members.

“On behalf of all Angelenos, I’d like to thank Eli and Edye Broad for their generosity,” said Garcetti. “Not only are they giving o...

Editor's Picks #290

2012-11-20T11:24:00-05:00

With the latest edition of the Showcase series, Archinect highlighted House Yagiyama in Sendai, Japan by Kazuya Saito Architects. The one-story house for an old couple, located in Sendai's hilly Yagiyama district was photographed by Yasuhiro Takagi.

News
Zaha Hadid Architects was awarded a contract to design and construct a centerpiece, billion-dollar national stadium that forms a key part of Tokyo’s bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games. Thayer-D reacted "These images are quite spectacular! The exterior reminds me of some beautiful animal skull that Georgia O'Keefe would have painted. I hope the street level view of this building is as sympathetic as these images" while Will Galloway noted it was "within walking distance of my office. nice area. olympics would be cool here too, but hopefully this stadium makes sense without them coming. looking forward to seeing it go up".

David Ng reported, that this past Saturday the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum (also designed by ar...

Zaha Hadid's Broad Art Museum opening delayed

2012-01-25T15:07:00-05:00

"All of our subcontracts are based on a fixed price and, because (the manufacturer) had difficulties supplying the proper glass, there is no cost impact to the university," Bollman said. He couldn't give a new date for the building's completion. University officials will be talking with the glassmaker over the next two weeks, he said. After that, he'll know more.