Dezeen – Architect Elizabeth Diller explains how The Broad Museum in Los Angeles was designed to feel “extremely welcoming” in the next instalment of Dezeen’s Concrete Icons series produced in collaboration with Holcim.
The video features The Broad in Los Angeles designed by Diller’s studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro, a three-storey museum that houses an expansive collection of contemporary and post-war artworks. Speaking to Dezeen in an exclusive video interview filmed at the Diller, Scofidio + Renfro office in New York City, Diller explained how the building was designed to feel inviting to visitors with a porous facade that allows light to be gently diffused into the gallery.
“It doesn’t really feel like a traditional museum,” Diller said. “There’s no sense of authority. When you step off the street, no one tells you where to go. There’s no information desk, there’s no admissions desk. You don’t pay, it’s free. It feels extremely welcoming.”
Facing the South China Sea, the Wormhole Library is located in Century Park along the Haikou Bay coastline. The intimately scaled structure is cast of white concrete as a unit. The curved concrete walls not only serve as organic architectural structure, but also connect the ceiling, the ground and the walls together. Holes of varying sizes allow the architecture to breathe and meanwhile let natural light flood the interior. The grey spaces of the exterior corridors provide shady spots for passers-by to stop and rest.