The Broad, the Los Angeles museum founded in 2015 by the late collector Eli Broad and his wife Edyth, is marking its first decade by embarking on a $100 million expansion that will add 55,000 square feet to the institution. The museum has engaged architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R), which designed the existing building—with its distinctively designed exterior, dramatic interior spaces, and exposed warehouse—to create the new structure.
The new building will increase the museum’s gallery space by 70% and create new amenities such as space for live events and public programming, two elevated outdoor patios and a new story gallery on display that will rotate paintings on racks. The new wing’s outdoor spaces include a covered public plaza for the nearest subway station. Construction on the new building will begin next year and be completed in time for Los Angeles to host the Summer Olympics in 2028. The museum building will be open.
“The Broad Museum has exceeded the expectations I shared with my late husband, Eli, and it is time to set the museum on a path to the future,” Edythe Broad said in a statement. “Elizabeth Diller and DS+R’s design for our expansion creates beautiful, new art spaces, maintaining what makes a visit to The Broad so special. I can’t imagine anyone else doing as good a job or caring as much.”
Rendering outside the existing and expanded expanse Courtesy of The Broad. © Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). Rendering of Plomp
Designs for the new building show an elevated structure with a sleek, elegant exterior punctuated by several large aperture-like windows. According to an announcement, the exterior of the new building is intended to echo the core of the existing building, featuring rounded and ascending forms that sometimes evoke the interior of a cave and enclose spaces such as museum warehouses. The museum’s collection includes more than 2,000 works and has continued to grow since Eli Broad’s death in 2021 under the leadership of his widow Edythe and museum director Joanne Heyler.
“In the short period since 2015, our building has become an icon in the cultural and urban landscape of Los Angeles,” Heyler said in a statement. “With this expansion, we want to further The Broad’s commitment to making contemporary art accessible to all, by offering surprising, welcoming and imaginative experiences that celebrate the diversity of our audience and enhance the vibrancy of the ever-growing area of Grand Avenue, Eli. Broad believed so much and helped make it what it is today.’
A rendering of a future gallery at the expanded Broad, artworks from the Broad collection, left to right: Amy Sherald, Kingdom, 2022; Elliott Hundley, The change, 2020; Patrick Martinez, Migration is Natural2021, picture me shooting2016, Psychic Friends (Malcolm X)2022, and They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were grown (Dinos Christianopoulos), 2022; and, in the back gallery, Mark Bradford, Corner of Desire and Piety, 2008 and Helter Skelter I2007 Courtesy of the artists and The Broad. © Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R)
According to the announcement of the new expansion, it has received more than 5.5 million visitors since its opening. according to Art NewspaperThe Broad was the 79th most visited museum in the world in 2023, with 895,949 visitors, up 40% from 2022.
The Broads donated $500 million to build and create an endowment for his namesake museum, according to an essay. Posted by Eli Broad Los Angeles Times in 2019 The Broad’s expansion project will make it the third major construction site for a Los Angeles institution: the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is building a controversial new $750 million building and the $1 billion Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. are being built in the city’s Exhibition Park. The construction of the first one is finished by the end of this year; the latter is expected to open in 2025.
