We traveled to Los Angeles for the MAK Center's architectural tour of several Schindlers (plus a Soriano and a Lloyd Wright). As our plane descended into LAX and I checked the time, I proposed to The Bride that we stop in to check out Peter Zumthor's addition to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (after we gawked at a lost [but now found] Schindler on the way). As you know, we love us some Zumthor. He's great at human-scale, minimal-yet-quietly-rambunctious architecture. While his smaller works are generally executed in wood (or burned wood), his large-scale pieces are heavy with concrete, glass, and the cold heart of neo-Brutalism.
Parking was hell, but we found a spot ($40!!!) and were surprised by all the picnicers, the stage for a live band, the several hundred people waiting for the band to play, the long line to purchase an entry ticket to the museum, and all the people. "Wow!" I wowed. "These people sure love art!"
The building is, apparently, controversial, due to cost overruns and unexpected value engineering (the bill tallied up to $800 million). However, I couldn't tell what corners had been cut. If anything, perhaps the budget cuts make the building more austere.
The footprint of the structure looks like a Joan Miró mobile piece dropped from heaven onto the park, the four lanes of Wilshire Boulevard, and the neighboring property. The main floor, elevated 30 feet by seven enormous pylons, holds 110,000 square-feet of exhibit space in a continuous flow from one end of exhibit space to the other some 900 feet away. Just like other Zumthors, the building holds a quiet elegance, an Emma Watson as compared the the Ru Paul LOOK-AT-ME-EDNESS of a silvery swoopy Gehry.
Standing beneath the building, the austerity of massive concrete slabs magically cantilevers in all directions, providing cover and shade to those below (perhaps reviving Le Corbusier's pilotis to keep us safe from the sun, flood, and fire of our warming world). Even in the exhibit space, the warm wings of cold concrete feel like comforting pigeon coos.
Some of the building's controversy may come from the program (which is certainly not Zumthor's fault), namely, the hodge-podge organization of displayed items. It's hip in the museum subculture these days to not organize by artistic era and style but to create thoughtful jumbles and juxapositions of art from completely different eras across the museum. In this case, Zumthor has designed a space perfect for this for everything is on the same plane suggesting that no one era or country or style is better than any other.
As for us, we loved the eclectic approach, allowing us to browse everything from the ancient to the Modern (including Modern design) in a couple of hours. Not having to ascend or descend stairs was also a joy as was stealing views out the window where LA itself is the art. Zumthor's architecture allows your attention to focus on the art, and not on the building. The brilliance of the design is how unobtrusive it is. Even the bathrooms are on the lower level (although you are allowed a sip of water from the fountains). You shall not shit on the same plane as the best that we as humans can produce is out and about.
A day later, as I was reading The Economist, an article appeared about the museum. As it turned out, we were there for opening weekend! (I thought it had opened up last year!). No wonder so much was going on when we arrived! Regardless, the museum deserves a visit.
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