The Broad

Constructed atop a partly subterranean parking structure, the three-story, 112,800 sf museum provides approximately 50,000 sf of gallery space on two floors, sufficient to exhibit approximately 300 of The Broad’s 2,000-work collection at any one time. The galleries provide column-free space, and a third-floor gallery that takes full advantage of the natural light entering via a grid of north-facing sculptured skylights. Other public spaces include a lecture hall, a lobby with display space and a museum shop. The remainder of the museum is devoted to offices, climate-controlled art storage, and research and study facilities, including a state-of-the-art archive.

Visitors enter the broad museum at ground level, take a naturally lit escalator to the top-floor galleries, and return via a staircase that provides views into the storage facilities on the first and second floor. The museum’s archival function and its distinctive design, a complex covering of interconnecting concrete trapezoids, have given rise to the nickname the veil and the vault. According to lead architect Elizabeth Diller, it is a because it enables the museum to relate to its surroundings by providing slots through which visitors can look out on Grand Avenue, and passersby outside the museum can get glimpses of what’s inside.

Challenges the team overcame included identifying trade partners capable of performing the high-level style of work required by the façade, working through attachment and waterproofing details and identifying the best value for the scope.