The new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is set to open on Sept. 30 at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. Renzo Piano Building Workshop designed the project in collaboration with Gensler as the executive architect.
The 300,000-sf project combines two contrasting structures; the renovated and expanded May Company building, a 1939 Streamline Moderne landmark now dubbed the Saban Building, and a new glass-and-concrete spherical building.
The 250,000-sf Saban Building houses the Fairfax Avenue entrance and Sidney Poitier Grand Lobby, the museum’s exhibition galleries, the 288-seat Ted Mann Theater, the Shirley Temple Education Studio, the Debbie Reynolds Conservation Studio, Fanny’s restaurant and cafe, and the Academy Museum Store. The 45,000-sf sphere building houses the 1,000-seat David Geffen Theater and the Dolby Family Terrace. The museum's massive, 690-panel orb theater is balanced on four mega-column supports designed to protect the museum from earthquakes.
![Academy Museum aerial view](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Academy_Museum_Aerial.jpeg)
Visitors can access the Sphere Building from the Saban Building via the Casey Wasserman Bridge at mezzanine level. The pedestrian bridge crosses over the David Geffen Theater and the Barbra Streisand Bridge on the fifth floor, which crosses over to the Dolby Family Terrace.
At the base of the sphere outside the northern entrance to the museum is The Walt Disney Company Piazza, which features dwarf southern magnolia trees and kart shrubs, California fan palms, vinca minor, Mexican fan palms, and jacaranda trees.
The Academy Museum’s 50,000 sf of gallery space will open with a series of exhibitions that honor the museum’s mission to share the history of cinema. Exhibitions will include the three-floor core exhibition Stories of Cinema, the first ever Hayao Miyazaki retrospective in North America, and other temporary exhibitions that advance the understanding, celebration, and preservation of cinema.
The Academy Museum build team comprised:
Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop in collaboration with Gensler
Project Manager: Paratus Group
Engineers and Consultants (in structural engineering; mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering, lighting design, environmental design, energy modeling, and IT systems): Buro Happold
The project has been awarded LEED Gold certification.
Related Stories
Museums | Dec 18, 2019
Weiss/Manfredi will lead the master plan of the La Brea Tar Pits
The firm was selected by The Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County after an international competition.
Giants 400 | Oct 3, 2019
Top 65 Cultural Sector Construction Firms for 2019
Whiting-Turner, Turner, PCL, Clark Group, and Gilbane top the rankings of the nation's largest cultural facility sector contractors and construction management firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2019 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 3, 2019
Top 70 Cultural Sector Engineering Firms for 2019
Jacobs, Arup, EXP, BRPH, and Thornton Tomasetti head the rankings of the nation's largest cultural facility sector engineering and engineering architecture (EA) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2019 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 3, 2019
Top 110 Cultural Sector Architecture Firms for 2019
Gensler, Populous, DLR Group, Stantec, and Perkins and Will top the rankings of the nation's largest cultural facility sector architecture and architecture engineering (AE) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2019 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 3, 2019
2019 Cultural Facility Giants Report: New libraries are all about community
The future of libraries is less about being quiet and more about hands-on learning and face-to-face interactions. This and more cultural sector trends from BD+C's 2019 Giants 300 Report.
Museums | Sep 20, 2019
Kistefos Museum’s new art institution doubles as a bridge to connect two riverbanks
BIG designed the project.
Museums | Aug 21, 2019
Cincinnati Reds debut renovated Reds Hall of Fame and Museum
FRCH NELSON designed the project.
Museums | Aug 8, 2019
The Challenge Museum includes a two minute walk through farmland to reach the building
UNStudio is designing the project.
Museums | Aug 1, 2019
Foster + Partners wins competition for the expansion and remodeling of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum
The design looks to reorient the museums towards the city.
Museums | Jul 29, 2019
A new museum debuts inside the Empire State Building
A $165 million, 10,000-sf museum opened on the second floor of the Empire State Building in New York City, completing the second of a four-phase “reimagining” of that building’s observatory experience, which draws four million visitors annually.