US architecture studios Gehry Partners, WHY Architecture and landscape studio Olin have been announced as the project leads for renovations to the visitor sequence at the Getty Center in California, USA.
As part of the effort, Gehry Partners will deliver a parametric glass canopy to cover the tram's lower staging area at the base of a steep hillside overlooking the 405 Freeway. The tram is a people mover that brings guests from the road up to the center.
The new scheme for the staging area was designed to help establish a stronger public-facing identity while serving as a visible gateway marker for the famous campus that holds the Getty Museum and other buildings for the Getty Trust.
Renovations of the centre's existing Welcome Hall will be carried out by WHY Architecture, which plans to improve wayfinding and create a cafe space. Olin will carry out the landscape architecture for the revamp.
Austrian-based firm Doppelmayr Group will manufacture improved tram cars capable of carrying about 25 more visitors per trip, according to the Getty.
The museum will close on a temporary basis beginning in March of next year in order to complete the construction and other aspects of its campus upgrades, including mechanical upgrades and the improvement of galleries, before reopening in the spring of 2028.
The Getty Center campus and tramway system first opened to the public in 1997, with a hilltop design by American architect Richard Meier.
Visitorship to the museum has grown to more than 1.4 million annual guests since then.
According to the Getty, the present plan was initiated to "elevate [the] visitor experience, enhance accessibility, strengthen energy resilience, and support long-term stewardship."
Tim Whalen, the departing former Director at the Getty Conservation Institute and current Vice President of Institutional Planning for the Getty Center, confirmed to Dezeen that the design team included Frank Gehry before his passing at age 96 in December 2025.
Whalen added that the modernisation plan satisfies a "long overdue" change in the time of rideshares and was in part spurred by a need for greater security on campus.
Gehry Partners was invited by the museum to submit a proposal. Whalen said construction had been carefully planned in consideration of its relationship with the architecture of Meier’s original design, and would not confirm if the modernisation will be the only improvement project for the institution over the next decade.
Led by Dezeen Awards 2026 judge Kulapat Yantrasast, WHY Architecture recently redesigned the Michael C Rockefeller Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Gehry Partners is working to finish its namesake’s final major project for the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi while designs in Toronto and Los Angeles near completion.
The imagery is courtesy of Gehry Partners unless otherwise stated.Â