Dezeen Magazine

The Broad photographed by Edmon Leong
Diller

Edmon Leong photographs Diller Scofidio + Renfro's The Broad in Los Angeles one year after opening

These new images by architecture photographer Edmon Leong capture the light-filled galleries, cavernous lobby and large dimple in the honeycomb exterior of Diller Scofidio + Renfro's The Broad museum in Los Angeles.

Hong Kong-based Leong's photographs show the exterior and interior of the three-storey building, just over a year after it first opened to the public.

The Broad photographed by Edmon Leong

The Broad LA is located on Grand Avenue in the city's Downtown district, across the street from Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall.

It was founded by philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad, who are also behind a Zaha Hadid-designed art museum in Michigan. The pair wanted to exhibit and archive the large collection of contemporary and post-war artworks they amassed over 40 years.

The Broad photographed by Edmon Leong

The walls and roof of US firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro's museum are covered by a concrete latticed exoskeleton, which is lifted up at the corners to create entrances for the lobby and cafe. A large indentation on the street-facing side marks a 200-seat auditorium.

This porous covering tops the column-free exhibition space that spans the building's entire upper level, creating a diffused natural light ideal for the artwork.

The Broad photographed by Edmon Leong

Below this, archive and storage for the Broad Art Foundation's lending library forms the core of the building, made up of curving walls sheathed in Venetian plaster. These meet a glass wall that sits in front of the honeycomb exterior.

From the lobby, escalators journey through the cavernous vault with openings offering glimpses down into the space. The stairs finish in the gallery space, where there is also glass cylindrical lift that rises through the centre of the building.

The Broad Museum in Los Angeles was first photographed by Iwan Baan and Hufton+Crow when it opened in September 2015.

The Broad photographed by Edmon Leong

It is one of a series of major projects in LA signalling an architecture boom. Others include Gehry's plans to create a mixed-use development opposite his Walt Disney Concert Hall, while in Beverley Hills Chinese firm MAD is working on its first US project – a residential block modelled on a hilltop village.

The Broad photographed by Edmon Leong

Leong has previously photographed a number of buildings designed by the late Zaha Hadid, including the Innovation Tower at the Polytechnic University in Hong Kong and Dongdaemun Design Plaza complex in Seoul.

More images

The Broad photographed by Edmon Leong
The Broad photographed by Edmon Leong
The Broad photographed by Edmon Leong
The Broad photographed by Edmon Leong
The Broad photographed by Edmon Leong
The Broad photographed by Edmon Leong
The Broad photographed by Edmon Leong
The Broad photographed by Edmon Leong
The Broad photographed by Edmon Leong
The Broad photographed by Edmon Leong