The Broad

The story

Located along Grand Avenue in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, The Broad showcases contemporary art and was established by philanthropists Eli Broad and Edythe Broad.^2,4 The museum invites visitors to bring friends and family to enjoy galleries filled with work by contemporary artists.¹

Step inside and the building itself becomes part of the show: an airy, honeycomb-like outer skin wraps a heavy concrete core that stores the art.^2,4 That core stays in view from entry to exit, and windows into it hint at how deep the collection runs.²

History

Starting in 2008, the Broads and the Broad Art Foundation weighed several possible sites for a museum to hold the collection.⁴ Options in Beverly Hills, near Culver City, and in Santa Monica were all considered before Eli Broad announced in August 2010 that the museum would rise downtown.⁴

An invited competition in 2010 asked six architects, among them Rem Koolhaas and Christian de Portzamparc, to present early designs.⁴ The New York architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro were chosen to design the roughly 120,000-square-foot building.^2,4 In February 2015 the Broads hosted a public preview that drew some 3,500 visitors, and the museum opened on September 20, 2015.⁴

The Broad describes its design as a veil-and-vault concept that joins public exhibition space with collection storage.² The vault holds works not on display or out on loan, and viewing windows let visitors look straight into it.² In 2016 the US Green Building Council awarded the building LEED Gold certification for new construction.²

What to see and do

Here is a taste of what a visit holds.^1,2

• The collection

  The Broad is home to over 2,000 works of art, a collection the museum describes as one of the world's leading holdings of postwar and contemporary art.²

• Recognizable names

  The collection includes works by Jeff Koons, Ed Ruscha, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and Cindy Sherman.^1,4

• The Infinity Mirrored Room

  Among the standout installations at the museum is a 2013 work by Yayoi Kusama from her Infinity Mirrored Room series, titled Souls of Millions of Light Years Away.^1,4

• Fresh galleries

  Dozens of works are moving out of storage and into the galleries, offering a look at more of the collection.¹

• The vault windows

  Viewing windows built into the vault let you see into the storage holdings.²

• The plaza

  Just south of the museum sits a public plaza with a grove of 100-year-old Barouni olive trees and an open lawn.^2,4

• The skylit top floor

  A 35,000-square-foot top-floor gallery is lit largely by soft natural light from skylights.²

Why it matters

The Broad says its mission is to open up contemporary art, from the 1950s onward, to as many people as possible.² The museum says it welcomes more than 900,000 visitors a year from around the world.² It is also home base for The Broad Art Foundation's lending library, which has sent collection works to museums worldwide since 1984.² A planned expansion will bring more space and new ways to experience the collection, growing gallery space by 70%.^1,2

Getting there

The Broad is at 221 S Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles.¹ It sits close to public transit, right beside the Metro Regional Connector station at 2nd and Hope streets, and the official site has visiting details.²