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

Architects | Jun 7, 2017

Build your very own version of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum with this new LEGO set

744 LEGO bricks are used to recreate the famous Wright design, including the 1992 addition.

Museums | May 25, 2017

The museum as workspace

Many museum staff are resistant to the idea of open offices.

Architects | May 23, 2017

Queens Museum exhibit shows New York City as it could have been

The installation will showcase 200 years worth of unrealized Big Apple projects via original drawings, renderings, newly commissioned models, and 3D visualizations.

Museums | May 18, 2017

American Writers Museum opens on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue

Amaze Design designed the 10,000-sf space.

Cultural Facilities | May 4, 2017

Obama Foundation reveals first look at the Obama Presidential Center

The design comprises three buildings set in the public space of Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side.

Art Galleries | Apr 21, 2017

The Odunpazari Modern Art Museum pays homage to Ottoman Empire era architecture

The wooden façade is a link to the history of the area as a wood market.

Art Galleries | Apr 14, 2017

Activating exteriors as gallery space

Owners would like to get more value from their exterior spaces. One architecture firm details how it made that happen for the new Whitney Museum.

Museums | Jan 19, 2017

Turning museums inside out: White paper addresses the value of exterior gallery space

Many contemporary museum designs are beginning to utilize the exterior wall space to display art that can help attract new audiences.

Museums | Dec 15, 2016

The design of the Shanghai Planetarium draws inspiration from astronomical principles

Housed within the 400,000-sf building will be the world’s largest planetarium theater.

Museums | Dec 15, 2016

The Grand Louvre - Phase I honored with AIA Twenty-five Year Award

The award recognizes an architectural design that has stood the test of time for 25 years.

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