The Broad:  Fait Accompli

The Broad museum will open this weekend to much fanfare on Grand Avenue.  Today’s Civic Dedication ceremony featured celebratory words from California Governor Jerry Brown, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and a host of other dignitaries.

MATT had the privilege of partnering with The Broad Art Foundation and architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Gensler to bring this project to reality over the course of the last two years.

“MATT Construction has been a true partner with us in building The Broad,” said Eli Broad.  “We couldn’t have done it without them.  They’ve got great integrity, they’re problem solvers, and they’re great collaborators with our architects and other consultants…we are delighted with the quality of their work.”

Built by philanthropists and longtime art collectors Eli and Edythe Broad, The Broad will welcome visitors from near and far with free general admission.  The Broad makes its home in the city’s burgeoning Grand Avenue arts corridor, across the street from architectural icons including Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Colburn School (also built by MATT Construction), and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

The Broads have been at the center of the civic and cultural development of downtown Los Angeles since they moved to the city in 1964. The couple has spent five decades assembling two of the world’s most admired collections of postwar and contemporary art, with the aim of creating a widely accessible collection for the public. In addition to their personal collection, they created The Broad Art Foundation in 1984 as a lending library of contemporary art for museums around the world. The foundation, which will be headquartered in the new museum, has made more than 8,000 loans to over 500 museums.

When the museum opens its doors Sunday, they will be advancing Eli and Edye’s vision of sharing contemporary art with the broadest possible audience. The new museum’s opening installation will be a predominantly chronological selection of masterworks from the Broads’ extraordinary personal art collection as well as that of The Broad Art Foundation.  For more information about the opening exhibition, visit www.thebroad.org.

MATT Construction has been building cultural landmarks in California since the company’s founding in 1991.  Other notable projects and collaborations with architects include the Renzo Piano transformation of LACMA, the Skirball Cultural Center by Moshe Safdie, the Richard Meier-designed Visitor Center at the Crystal Cathedral, the Wilshire Boulevard Temple Restoration by Brenda Levin, Hollywood Bowl Improvements by Rios Clementi Hale Studios, CO Architects’ transformation of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts by SPF:a, and current work at the Petersen Automotive Museum by KPF with House & Robertson and the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens by Architectural Resources Group. For the broader body of work, please visit MATT’s museum/cultural portfolio.