NHM Commons, a new wing and community hub under construction at The Natural History Museums (NHM) of Los Angeles County, was designed to be both a destination and a portal into the building and to the surrounding grounds.
Major elements of the addition include sustainable gardens, a 400-seat multi-purpose theater that will offer daytime and evening events, free admission to the Judith Perlstein Welcome Center, which will house Gnatalie, “the first real skeletal mount of a long-neck dinosaur on the West Coast,” and Barbara Carrasco’s mural L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective.
The Commons’ amenities include a cafe with indoor/outdoor seating, a retail space inside the airy Wallis Annenberg Lobby, and a spacious plaza intended as a communal gathering point for events and relaxation. The latter will also serve as the Museum’s “front porch” to the neighboring Exposition Park.
The $75 million NHM Commons expansion and renovation, designed by Frederick Fisher & Partners with landscape design by Studio-MLA, will create 75,000 sf of renovated space and new construction. The Native American Advisory Council, which represents native communities in Southern California including Gabrieleno-Tongva, Tataviam, Chumash, and Ajachmem, contributed to programming and provided design input for the project. The council focused on ways to build a sense of welcome, acknowledgment, respect for native people who enter the space, and on opportunities to remind, express to, and educate visitors that Los Angeles is on native land.
NHM Commons is part of a 10-year plan aimed at increasing access to research and collections that will provide more resources and amenities for neighboring communities and create integrated indoor-outdoor destinations at The Natural History Museums in Exposition Park and at La Brea Tar Pits in Hancock Park.
The reimagining of La Brea Tar Pits—the only active urban paleontological site in the world—has begun with the early stages of master planning by the architectural team of Weiss/Manfredi.
On the project team:
Owner and/or developer: County of Los Angeles, Fundraising and Project Implementation by the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum Foundation
Design architect: Frederick Fisher and Partners
Architect of record: Frederick Fisher and Partners
MEP engineer: BuroHappold
Structural engineer: John A. Martin & Associates
General contractor/construction manager: MATT Construction
Related Stories
| Apr 11, 2013
American Folk Art Museum, opened in 2001, to be demolished
Just 12 years old, the museum designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien will be taken down to make way for MoMA expansion.
| Apr 2, 2013
6 lobby design tips
If you do hotels, schools, student unions, office buildings, performing arts centers, transportation facilities, or any structure with a lobby, here are six principles from healthcare lobby design that make for happier users—and more satisfied owners.
| Mar 22, 2013
8 cool cultural projects in the works
A soaring opera center in Hong Kong and a multi-tower music center in Calgary are among the latest cultural projects.
| Mar 15, 2013
AIA opposes House bill cutting Eisenhower Memorial funding
AIA opposes House bill cutting Eisenhower Memorial funding.
| Mar 3, 2013
World's first LEGO museum planned in Denmark
Bjarke Ingels Group and Ralph Appelbaum Associates will team up with the LEGO Group to design the physical home for The LEGO House, the world's first museum dedicated to LEGO.
| Feb 25, 2013
10 U.S. cities with the best urban forests
Charlotte, Denver, and Milwaukee are among 10 U.S. cities ranked recently by the conservation organization American Forests for having quality urban forest programs.
| Feb 14, 2013
Brasfield & Gorrie breaks ground on New College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta
General contractor Brasfield & Gorrie is scheduled to kick off construction on the new College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta. With an anticipated completion date of fall 2014, the $66.5 million project will continue the revitalization of the city’s tourist district.
| Feb 8, 2013
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s new wing voted Boston’s 'most beautiful new building'
Bostonians voted the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's new wing the People's Choice Award winner for 2012, honoring the project as the city's "most beautiful new building" for the calendar year. The new wing, designed by Renzo Piano and Stantec, beat out three other projects on the short list.
| Feb 6, 2013
George W. Bush Presidential Center among award-winning roofing projects honored by Sika Sarnafil
Winners of the 2012 Contractor Project of the Year Competition were announced this week by Sika Sarnafil. The annual competition highlights excellence in roofing installation. Roofing contractors are judged based on project complexity, design uniqueness, craftsmanship, and creative problem solving.
| Jun 22, 2012
Golden Gate Bridge Celebrates 75 Years With the Opening of New Bridge Pavilion
With features such as Nichiha's Illumination series panels, super-insulating glass units, and LED lighting, the new Golden Gate Bridge Pavilion not only boasts the bridge's famous international orange, but green sustainability as well
