Architect Peter Zumthor’s serpentine new wing completes the museum’s transformation
Words by ELIZABETH VARNELL
For nearly two decades, LACMA director Michael Govan championed Peter Zumthor’s stark design for the museum’s new wing, the David Geffen Galleries. Now the Pritzker-winning architect’s first and only building in the U.S., a serene expanse of poured-in-place concrete, is open. “Zumthor’s projects are all specifically and deeply related to their site, and they are all constructed of simple, real materials and details animated with ever-changing light and shadow,” Govan says. “His spaces are dynamic, and deeply emotional.”
The curvilinear 347,500-square-foot structure spanning Wilshire Boulevard and housing the museum’s expansive permanent collection on a single level seeks to reinvent the way such spaces are curated. Works are grouped in a nonlinear way that prioritizes exploration and includes multiple histories of particular times and places. The flow of bodies of water, from the Pacific and Indian Oceans to the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea determine what art is installed and where. Govan has likened the arrangement to cabinets of curiosities, the post-Renaissance precursors to museums. Indeed, Zumthor, the creator of minimalist masterpieces including the Therme Vals hotel and spa in his native Switzerland, trained as a cabinet maker before studying design and collaborated with L.A. firm MASHstudios to create the made-in-California vitrines and platforms for the encyclopedic art trove.
“Zumthor’s projects are all specifically and deeply related to their site, and they are all constructed of simple, real materials and details animated with ever-changing light and shadow.”
Govan says curators have currently placed at least 1,700 works in the new building, and more will be added and will shift over time. “One of the things about this museum is that it’ll be in continuous slow rotation and change. I’m fond of saying that history is always changing. We’re always rethinking, and the museum will be responsive to that. There’s no one path for the museum, just as there’s more than one story of our history,” he says.
L.A. County and donors including Geffen contributed to the $720 million new wing. While the project — where works by local artists Liz Glynn, Todd Gray, Diana Thater, and Lauren Halsey have pride of place — faced criticism, modifications, and delays, the result is a bold cultural hub that’s already played host to Vanity Fair’s 2026 Oscar Party and is the setting for Jonathan Anderson’s first Dior Cruise collection to be shown in May. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., 323-857-6000; lacma.org.
Feature image: Installation view of the inaugural presentation in the David Geffen Galleries. PHOTO: © Museum Associates/LACMA.
This story originally appeared in the Fashionable Living 2026 issue of C Magazine.
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