‘Ugly’ but ‘beautiful’: LACMA finally unveils controversial new Geffen Galleries — was it worth the wait?
April 17, 2026
The 900-foot-long, curvy, two-story building was designed by Swiss minimalist, experiential architect Peter Zumthor — and the project was not without its challenges.
After nearly two decades of debate, demolition, and construction, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has finally unveiled the David Geffen Galleries. The monumental, sand-colored concrete structure, which snakes across Wilshire Boulevard, has been one of the most talked-about and divisive cultural projects in recent Los Angeles history, prompting questions about its ambitious design, cost, and ultimate success. Opening to the public after years of anticipation, the building, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, is being met with a mix of awe and criticism, with observers struggling to define the futuristic landmark.
The journey to this moment has been a long and often contentious one, spearheaded by LACMA’s director, Michael Govan, who envisioned a radical rethinking of the encyclopedic museum. The project involved the controversial demolition of four of the museum's original buildings to make way for Zumthor's singular, elevated structure. Critics raised alarms over the project's nearly $724 million price tag, a reduction in the museum's overall gallery square footage, and the perceived imposition of a monolithic design on the Miracle Mile. A group called Save LACMA even formed to oppose the plan, arguing it sacrificed institutional memory and architectural diversity.
The building itself is a dramatic departure from traditional museum design. Elevated on seven massive pavilions, the main exhibition space is a single, continuous level of more than 100,000 square feet, wrapped in floor-to-ceiling glass windows that aim to connect the art inside with the city of Los Angeles. This non-hierarchical layout is central to Govan and Zumthor's vision. The goal is to break down the traditional divisions of art history, allowing visitors to wander freely between cultures and time periods without a prescribed path, encouraging new connections and a more democratic experience of the collection.
For its inaugural presentation, curators have organized the vast collection not by region or chronology, but by the four major bodies of water: the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea. This thematic approach places works by artists like Henri Matisse and Vincent van Gogh in dialogue with contemporary pieces and ancient artifacts, aiming to foster a global perspective on art history. The design also creates 3.5 acres of new public park space underneath the elevated galleries, featuring sculpture gardens and outdoor programming intended to further integrate the museum with its urban environment.
With the doors now open, the central question remains: was it worth the wait and the controversy? The opening solidifies Museum Row, which also includes the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and the La Brea Tar Pits, as a major cultural corridor, soon to be more accessible with a new Metro subway station. Supporters argue the Geffen Galleries offer a bold, forward-thinking model for what a 21st-century museum can be, a flexible and public-facing institution. Whether visitors ultimately see it as a beautiful, open-hearted gift to the city or an ugly, compromised vision, its arrival undeniably marks a new chapter for Los Angeles, sparking conversations about art, architecture, and civic identity for years to come.
Source: nypost