Exactly a year before its opening, the new Morphosis-designed Orange County Museum of Art is sharing images and a construction update for the project that first broke ground in September of 2019. 

The $93 million addition to Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts topped out a year ago this week and looks forward to its debut next year that is set to coincide with the return of the California Biennale 2022 curated by Elizabeth Armstrong, Essence Harden, and Gilbert Vicario.

Featuring twice the amount of gallery space as its former Newport Beach location, the 53,000-square-foot museum is anchored by a public plaza and accentuated by a massive roof terrace that serves as an extension of the galleries. 

A glass wall window on one side of the building will display temporary exhibitions across a variety of mediums, while undulating glazed terracotta panels give the museum a distinct visual character and help compliment the surrounding architecture of the Segerstrom Center, which features a program of theaters and concert halls designed by AIA award winners Charles Lawrence and Cesar Pelli.

“Our goal is to remove as many barriers of entry as possible and to connect as many people as we can to art and artists,” director Heidi Zimmerman said.

The opening announcement coincides with the museum’s decision to waive entry fees for its first ten years of operation thanks to a gift from a local jewelry corporation. A retrospective of the artist Fred Eversley will be on view as well. Zimmerman said it “will be a wonderful way to throw open our doors” when the museum is officially inaugurated on October 8th, 2022.