Since 2013, critics have publicly debated the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s plans for a $600 million campus redesign by Peter Zumthor that requires razing three deteriorating 1965 buildings designed by William Pereira and a 1986 addition by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates. While many, including Christopher Hawthorne, the architecture Critic for The Los Angeles Times, generally support the Zumthor plan, some favor renovation of the existing buildings or have voiced their emotional attachment to the old structures.
“There’s this real sense of nostalgia for place, even if the place doesn’t function anymore,” said the museum’s director, Michael Govan. Rather than sweeping such sentiments under the rug as he stewards the campus overhaul, Mr. Govan has commissioned the artist Vera Lutter “to confront these sites that have meaning and preserve them through her work.”
