The entry sequence, proceeding from that plaza at grade, is visually and spatially charged. While revealing strategic expanses of glass, much of the building is wrapped in an off-white rain screen of lightly glazed terra-cotta tile. This outer skin warps, bends, and undulates over the building, yielding an irregular form that’s sculptural in the round. On the entrance facade, the wrapper bows inward to honor a towering, weathered-steel Richard Serra sculpture, called “Connector,” out front, which pre-dates OCMA’s building at SCA. The terra-cotta sheathing also curves inward from the exterior, blurring boundaries between inside and out, as it winds up through a soaring, skylit atrium. There, translucent glass walkways crisscross the vertical void overhead.

In contrast to such dynamism, the galleries—visible behind the lobby reception desk, through a bowed glass wall—are white, rectilinear, and serene. Luminously top-lit with louvered LEDs that evoke daylight, these spaces sublimely defer to the museum’s collection of mostly 20^th and 21^st century art with ties to California.

The program also includes a coffee bar and museum shop at one end of the lobby and, upstairs, a smaller gallery, suitable for works on paper, as well as a restaurant and bar that can open to the roof terrace.  

Housing a total of nearly 25,000 square feet of galleries—in addition to art display opportunities on the roof terrace—the new building doubles the exhibition space of the museum’s previous home. With such enhanced offerings, OCMA CEO and director Heidi Zuckerman has prioritized embracing the community. Following her appointment in early 2021, she secured a $2.5 million gift from Lugano Diamonds, a jewelry store in Newport Beach, enabling OCMA to operate admission-free for the next 10 years—making sure its doors are wide open to all.