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. — la.curbed.com
For comparison - the rendered promise:
36 Comments
What do you want for $140 million?
actually looks better than the rendering.
brought to you by millions of tract homes shit all over the place
Many people here in LA likens it to a grater.
previously here and here
Critic's notebook: Broad museum design pointed in the right direction
Although the design lacks the flair usually associated with Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, the downtown L.A. project's beauty and simplicity shine through.January 06, 2011|By Christopher Hawthorne, Los Angeles Times Architecture Critic
Cool museum......NOT!
What I see in that photo: a hippo in a tutu delicately curtsying. As delicately as a hippo is able.
So, the navel thingy... what is that?
citizen, that's a 'soft selection' push in 3dsMax, about 5 minutes of work.
The navel is the best thing... Needed more of those
Miles, *that* hippo is beautiful! Look how gorgeously drawn.
But seriously, doesn't the building look like it's lifting its little skirt up? Like a bored toddler at the bank?
Old Disney is tops, nothing like it. When I was lookin for an illustrator for the book I interviewed a former Disney animator who was displaced by the digital revolution. Guy had mad drawing skill and was driving a bus.
Donna it's all about getting access....another Diller+Scofidio+Renfro project
Reminds me a lot of Erwin Hauer's modular constructions of the 50s and 60s.
yep davvid....I think its just a knock off of the american cement building in LA, plus some super over priced customized panels to make that dip/navel occur on that front elevation. total fail.
slate's calling this building type the "peekaboo wedge"
bit early to say its a fail. Id wait to see if there is a street character when the hoarding is down. Might be pleasantly surprised. RIght now all anyone can say is it looks pretty much as rendered.
To me it looks like the whitney in some ways, especially with the single window thingy. Not anything like as powerful on first glance, but then again lets see. They have a thing for upskirt porrn as in the illustration above so maybe this wont work until the modesty screens come off.
does make a person admire gehry more. his box is just as closed, but doesnt feel like its not for the public the way this one might end up doing. It sure as hell doesnt look like a bigbox with a cute facade pasted on, which is I guess what most people ultimately dislike about the project.
The Disney concert hall does manage to offer some nice thresholds between the street and the building. This seems to be missing with the broad. Sure there are the up-skirts areas that try help- however the monotony of that large flat facade right up against the street is a bit worry-some. At least the massing of the Disney concert hall is broken up- therefore resolving the issue of a large scale monotonous flat facade right up against the side walk. Not that there is anything wrong with big boxy buildings- the water and power building of Los Angeles is a prime example of this that is close by. However at least with the water and power building it is pulled away from the street with a generous fountain in front.
The finish of that facade is fine and the least of the worries about that project. The massing and how it relates to the street seems potentialy troubling. However as mentioned above perhaps when the hoarding is fully down then its street character and how it can relate to the city will be tested. There are some great examples close by that manage this: Disney concert hall, water and power building, cal trans etc
I prefer the term "upskirting" over the phrase "peekaboo wedge"
street presence there is wack...just a 25' sterile sidewalk to building...god forbid somebody plant some fucking street trees or provide public seating between the curb and building....same for Disney, all they did was make the sidewalk closer and further away in some locations, I totally disagree with archinet's analysis of the street presence...it is shitty, just a sea of concrete up to some shitty titanium building wall, a few steps, and some interior garden spaces that are off limits unless you look white and alright.
I looked right up Broad's skirt and saw his manhood....it was a koons.
Using 'up-skirt' in reference to this building does a terrible disservice to the language of pornography.
I guess they decided to go pink.
I'm not going to pass judgement, until my sugar daddy, Michael Graves, designs the replacement building for this location, then I'll have somethun to say.
I was going to say something, but then I remembered that Curtkram instructed me to bite my tongue, since my opinion is no longer welcome here unless it's adulatory. Mums the word.
@ lighthouse - the naval is the best part?? Not sure if you were being sarcastic...in the rendering it looks almost interesting. In reality it's more of a bullet hole. So random and crudely constructed.
While I find the building a pretty banal throwback to the panelized concrete facades of the '60's, at least it looks closer to the rendering than most of their projects. DS+R uses curtain walls basically everywhere, and for whatever reason, they always render glazing as an 99% transparent, matte, aqua green screen that allows unobtrusive views 200' into their buildings. Anyone who has actually constructed a curtain wall knows that glass pretty much never works like this. Just check out their renderings of all the street life that the "art bay" at MoMA promises to offer.
Jeez, I've been in this profession for 30 years and had never heard the term hoardings before. I'm not very smart!
Be careful! Don't get too close to the sponge's feeding oriface!
It already looks dated, but maybe it functions well and sits nicely in it's context, it's hard to say. Interesting how there are some horizontal lines in some views while it's more gratterlike in others.
Drove past it yesterday and the construction quality looks rather awesome. I think it will work brilliantly in the DTLA context. I am still bummed that KB Home sales funded this, but in isolation it seems rather well put together.
The screen certainly looks delicate from the view looking at a corner - the oblique view. The view that's more frontal, as the first photo, is where the mass looks ungainly and like a tubby hippo in a tutu.
As this is sited on a street, I'm guessing the oblique view, and the view zooming past in a car, will be the most common view, not the flat full frontal from directly across the street, yes?
Actually, the photo does not do justice to the light that the building will be rendered with. In the morning, the "full frontal" view might seem a bit heavy as the light will be shining directly on it (from the east), but as the day progresses, the lattice will look rather articulate and delicate. In the afternoons and evenings, with the skin lit from inside, without direct sunlight, It might look rather magical and floating. (Yes I used the word magical).
Either it's a museum or a really dope parking garage, can't tell.
Looks better in person than in the photo (and I prefer both to the rendering), but the criticisms about the meager entry gesture remain. I would be happy to zest citrus on such a building.
It is still a whole lot better than a glass or brick or metal box that is 99% of the new buildings today. At least it is different, and funky if in a somewhat aggressive way.
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