Official photos released of new Berkeley art and film centre by Diller Scofidio + Renfro
New York-based Diller Scofidio + Renfro has completed a new home for the Berkeley Art Museum and the Pacific Film Archive, adding a sculptural metal volume to an old industrial plant (+ slideshow).
![The University of California at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/02/uc-berkeley-art-museum-pacific-film-archive-opening_dezeen_936_7.jpg)
BAMPFA, as the cultural institutions are collectively called, is run by the Berkeley branch of the University of California.
![The University of California at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/02/uc-berkeley-art-museum-pacific-film-archive-opening_dezeen_936_10.jpg)
Renowned photographer Iwan Baan has captured images of the new $112 million (£83 million) facility, which opened to the public on Saturday.
![The University of California at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/02/uc-berkeley-art-museum-pacific-film-archive-opening_dezeen_936_4.jpg)
The complex was designed by the architecture studio DS+R, known for high-profile projects such as The Broad museum in Los Angeles and New York's High Line. The firm is also on a shortlist to design the new Obama Presidential Library in Chicago.
![The University of California at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/02/uc-berkeley-art-museum-pacific-film-archive-opening_dezeen_936_11.jpg)
John King, architecture critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, praised the new BAMPFA complex, for which DS+R repurposed a historic printing plant and added a new metal-clad volume.
![The University of California at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/02/uc-berkeley-art-museum-pacific-film-archive-opening_dezeen_936_12.jpg)
"The new home of the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive wants to be a mind-bending twist of the old and the new, preservation and provocation, a stylized whale of shimmering steel that drapes a stocky neighbor from 1939," King wrote.
"In fact it's something better: a well-crafted, multilayered museum that manages to feel intimate and expansive at once."
![The University of California at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/02/uc-berkeley-art-museum-pacific-film-archive-opening_dezeen_936_6.jpg)
Encompassing 83,000 square feet (7,710 square metres), the complex is located in downtown Berkeley, directly across from the school campus. Its program includes exhibition space, theatres, and a library for film and art.
![The University of California at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/02/uc-berkeley-art-museum-pacific-film-archive-opening_dezeen_936_5.jpg)
DS+R repurposed the printing plant, which consist of a single-storey structure with a distinctive sawtooth roof and an adjoining, three-storey rectangular bar.
The refurbished space, described as "wonderfully normal" by BAMPFA Director Lawrence Rinder, showcases the institution's art collection, which encompasses more than 19,000 pieces.
![The University of California at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/02/uc-berkeley-art-museum-pacific-film-archive-opening_dezeen_936_0.jpg)
The firm also designed a metal-clad volume for the property that total 35,000 square feet (3,250 square metres) and houses a large theatre.
The metal cladding extends over the original factory to form a small wedge-shaped volume that cantilevers over the street.
![The University of California at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/02/uc-berkeley-art-museum-pacific-film-archive-opening_dezeen_936_14.jpg)
"The supple body of the new structure, draped between the original 1930s orthogonal buildings and snagged on their sharp corners, creates a dramatic public spine that begins as a cantilevered cafe marking the building's entrance, and culminates in an indoor theatre on the other end of the site," said Charles Renfro in a statement last month.
![The University of California at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/02/uc-berkeley-art-museum-pacific-film-archive-opening_dezeen_936_9.jpg)
Outside the building, a 31-by-17-foot (nine-by-five-metre) LED screen overlooks a public plaza and is intended to be used for film screenings.
![The University of California at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/02/uc-berkeley-art-museum-pacific-film-archive-opening_dezeen_936_8.jpg)
For more than four decades, BAMPFA was housed in a Brutalist building by San Francisco architect Mario Ciampi. The building was closed years ago due to seismic concerns.
![The University of California at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/02/uc-berkeley-art-museum-pacific-film-archive-opening_dezeen_936_13.jpg)
Japanese architect Toyo Ito was originally commissioned to design a new home for the institution, but his proposal was cancelled in 2008 due to budgetary constraints. DS+R was hired in 2010.
![The University of California at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/02/uc-berkeley-art-museum-pacific-film-archive-opening_dezeen_936_1.jpg)
"The new BAMPFA will be the architectural and cultural centerpiece of downtown Berkeley," Rinder said in a statement.
"Combining serene spaces for viewing film and art with dynamic public areas, the building will inspire audiences for generations with its fresh, imaginative design and versatility."
![The University of California at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2016/02/uc-berkeley-art-museum-pacific-film-archive-opening_dezeen_936_3.jpg)
Other recent cultural projects in the US include a proposed art and model train museum in Massachusetts by Gluckman Tang and a recently completed automotive museum in Los Angeles by Kohn Pederson Fox.
Photography is by Iwan Baan.