This Week on DnA: LACMA Redesigns Its Redesign, Builders Use Drones

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On this week’s DnA, Michael Govan, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, talks about Peter Zumthor’s design and why the blob now bridges Wilshire Boulevard.

Michael Govan, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, talks about Peter Zumthor’s design and why the blob now bridges Wilshire Boulevard; and comments on reports of a Frank Gehry-designed skyscraper. DnA also launches a series on drones, starting with a look at how architects are using them.

LACMA’s Tarpit-Inspired Design Oozes Across Wilshire

Last year LACMA director Michael Govan and architect Peter Zumthor presented a design for a large, blobular building to take the place of four of the older buildings at the County Museum, three dating from the 1960s by William Pereira and the 1986 Art of the Americas Building by Hardy Holzman, Pfeiffer Associates.

The first hurdle the design ran into was in its own back yard — the goopy black tarpits that had initially inspired the scheme. But it turned out the proposed building was too close for comfort for the Page Museum. So the team went back to work and recently released a new design, in which the blob has oozed across Wilshire Boulevard, and bridges the street.

Govan discusses the scheme and also comments on reports that LACMA is in negotiations with Metro to build a skyscraper, possibly to be designed by Frank Gehry.

KCRW Has Purchased a Drone. Why?

KCRW’s Program Director Gary Scott talks about why the station has obtained an “unmanned aerial vehicle” and invited the station’s audience to take part in a dialogue about drones.

 Drone Photography at Wilshire Grand


David Martin is design principal at A.C. Martin, the venerable Los Angeles architecture firm that designed City Hall and the DWP building. Among current projects is Wilshire Grand, currently under construction in downtown and to be the tallest tower in the West. Martin talks about using a drone to examine views from Wilshire Grand and how the experience prompted mixed feelings about the new technology.