23 October 2015

Blueprint Awards 2015: The winners

Best Public Use Project Privately Funded

Winner: Diller Scofidio + Renfro, New York, US
The Broad, Los Angeles, US

Diller Scofidio+Renfro

JUDGE'S COMMENTS
'A simple and rigorous architectural diagram that is deceptively unassuming yet reveals its complexity and layers at every scale.'
Lyndon Neri

Diller Scofidio + Renfro's The Broad art gallery opened its doors to visitors in Downtown Los Angeles this September. The huge, white, $140m box houses artworks put together by eponymous philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad, who own one of the USA's leading post-war private art collections. Importantly, The Broad offers free admission to the public.

Sitting on a prominent corner of Upper Grand Avenue, directly opposite the glittering form of Frank Gehry's Disney Music Hall, the building is distinctly inward-looking. The sinuous form is enveloped by a latticed veil made of glass-fibrereinforced concrete that defines the column-free acre of gallery space inside and provides filtered natural daylight. The sides of the veil subtly lift up at the corners to provide public entrances, while an 'oculus' breaks through the surface into a conference room.

Internally, rather than being relegated to a back-of-house position, storage space for the 20,000-strong collection is sandwiched between the ground-floor entrance areas and the huge top-floor gallery. Three organically shaped routes guide visitors up to the brightly lit gallery space, offering brief glimpses of storage displays and art collecting at work on the way. Said Johnny Tucker in his review (Blueprint 342, September/October 2015): 'Apart from the huge span, the real key element about this gallery space is the light - it's at once a celebration and a harnessing of Los Angeles' fabled sunlight.'