flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Diller Scofidio + Renfro transforms old Art Deco building into a museum at UC Berkeley

Museums

Diller Scofidio + Renfro transforms old Art Deco building into a museum at UC Berkeley

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, which opened in late January, contains a theater, lab, and galleries. It was once a printing plant.


By Mike Chamernik, Associate Editor | February 5, 2016
DS+R transforms old Art Deco building into a museum at the University of California, Berkeley

The BAMPFA, with the Art Deco building on the left and new stainless steel addition on the right. Photo: Iwan Baan (all images courtesy DS+R).

The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), a $112 million project that opened in late January, is a mix of old and new. 

One part is an adaptive reuse of an Art Deco printing plant from 1939. Interdisciplinary design firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro, along with executive architect EHDD, transformed the former printing plant into the primary gallery spaces of the museum.

While the Press Building has as classical look, a sleek new silver structure was added onto it. The new addition houses a film theater, library, study center, and a cafe. 

The components total more than 83,000 sf, and a stainless steel ribbon wraps itself around the older structure, providing a visual link.

“The parts and pieces are intended to contrast with each other, but also to work together,” DS+R principal Charles Renfro said, according to the BAMPFA website.

The University of California at Berkeley museum has eight galleries with 25,000-sf of space, a theater, and an art lab. It holds 19,000 works of art and 17,500 films and videos.

The project is DS+R’s third building to open in California over the last year. The firm also designed The Broad Museum in Los Angeles and the McMurtry Art and Art History Building at Stanford University. 

 

The museum's main entrance. Photo: Iwan Baan.

Ground floor gallery. Photo: Elizabeth Daniels.

Corridor above the ground floor gallery. Photo: Elizabeth Daniels.

Aerial view of the BAMPFA. Photo: Iwan Baan.

Tags

Related Stories

Museums | Feb 26, 2018

*UPDATED* Design team unveils plans for the renovated and expanded Gateway Arch Museum

The goal of the project is to create closer and more robust connections between the Gateway Arch Museum and the landscape of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.

Museums | Jan 11, 2018

Suzhou Science & Technology Museum will highlight new cultural district in Shishan Park

The 600,000-sf museum will be about 62 miles northwest of Shanghai.

Museums | Dec 12, 2017

History museum embodies the culture of the Oregon coast

The barnlike structure comprises 15,000 sf of space.

Museums | Oct 3, 2017

Denmark’s new LEGO experience hub looks like it’s made out of giant LEGO blocks

The 12,000-sm building is part of Billund, Denmark’s goal to become the ‘Capital for Children.’

Museums | Sep 28, 2017

Tunnel-boring machine will be the centerpiece of a planned 150,000-sf Metro Museum in Wuhan, China

GreenbergFarrow beat out five other design firms for the opportunity to design the museum.

Museums | Sep 15, 2017

Former basketball gym becomes Stanford Athletics ‘Home of Champions’

The Home of Champions uses interactive displays to showcase Stanford’s 126-year history of student athletes.

Museums | Sep 8, 2017

CAF announces plans for 20,000-sf Chicago Architecture Center to be built on East Wacker Drive

The Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill-designed space will open in summer 2018.

Museums | Aug 15, 2017

Underground Railroad Visitor Center tells story of oppression, then freedom

The museum is conceived as a series of abstracted forms made up of two main structures, one administrative and one exhibit.

Museums | Jul 5, 2017

Addition by subtraction: Art Share L.A. renovation strips away its acquired superfluity

The redesign of the 28,000-sf building is prioritizing flexibility, openness, and connectivity.

Building Team Awards | Jun 7, 2017

Rising above adversity: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Gold Award: The Smithsonian Institution’s newest museum is a story of historical and construction resolve.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category

Museums

UT Dallas opens Morphosis-designed Crow Museum of Asian Art

In Richardson, Tex., the University of Texas at Dallas has opened a second location for the Crow Museum of Asian Art—the first of multiple buildings that will be part of a 12-acre cultural district. When completed, the arts and performance complex, called the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenaeum, will include two museums, a performance hall and music building, a grand plaza, and a dedicated parking structure on the Richardson campus.




Museums

The Tampa Museum of Art will soon undergo a $110 million expansion

In Tampa, Fla., the Tampa Museum of Art will soon undergo a 77,904-sf Centennial Expansion project. The museum plans to reach its $110 million fundraising goal by late 2024 or early 2025 and then break ground. Designed by Weiss/Manfredi, and with construction manager The Beck Group, the expansion will redefine the museum’s surrounding site.

halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021