On April 6, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) began the process of razing four existing buildings on its 20-acre campus to make way for its new flagship by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. Though the planned structure has long been the focus of inflamed public controversy—and the economic fallout from the coronavirus continues to emerge—the demolition quietly proceeded on schedule, with construction qualifying as an essential activity. (The 1965 Bing Center by William Pereira and Associates was the first to go, to be followed by two other buildings by the same firm and one from 1986 by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer.)
Meanwhile, an unofficial ideas competition called “LACMA not LackMA,” was underway, seeking enlightened alternatives to the Zumthor scheme. Launched by an activist group dubbed the Citizens Brigade to Save LACMA, the month-long protest-competition was announced on March 13. “We may be flattering ourselves,” says architecture critic (and frequent contributor to RECORD) Joseph Giovannini, co-chair of the Brigade, “but it seems as if [LACMA director] Michael Govan may have accelerated the demolition schedule—to make it a fait accompli—when he knew our competition was coming.” Whether or not the institution actually sped up the process (LACMA has denied any deviation from its longstanding schedule), the ongoing coronavirus crisis has halted construction on some other high-profile cultural projects across the city, including the Renzo Piano–designed Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and MAD’s Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.
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