The Broad, Contemporary art museum in Downtown Los Angeles, United States.
The Broad is a contemporary art museum on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro with Gensler. Its three-story building is wrapped in a porous "veil" of 2,500 rhomboidal fiberglass-reinforced concrete panels over a 650-ton steel frame, enclosing a concrete "vault" for storage and offices. Inside, 50,000 square feet of galleries occupy the first and third floors, linked by a 105-foot escalator; the lobby has no front desk. A separate public plaza with a grove of 100-year-old Barouni olive trees stands beside the museum.
Eli and Edythe Broad began searching for a museum site in 2008 and formally chose Downtown Los Angeles in August 2010, paying $7.7 million for a 99-year lease. The building, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, cost about $140 million. A public preview in February 2015 drew some 3,500 visitors, and the museum opened on September 20, 2015.
The museum takes its name from founders Eli and Edythe Broad, who wanted to make contemporary art accessible to everyone. Visitors today can see works by artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose art has shaped the way people think about modern American culture.
The museum is located at 221 South Grand Avenue and offers free admission to its permanent collection, while special installations often recommend advance digital reservations. The upstairs galleries are reached by a long escalator that takes visitors through the interior of the building.
The outer shell of white concrete acts like a perforated veil that filters daylight into the galleries while protecting the artworks inside from direct sunlight. This structure made of 2,500 rhomboid panels forms a distinctive honeycomb pattern that has become a landmark on Grand Avenue.
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