On Sunday, April 19, 2026, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) opened its new David Geffen Gallery to the public. Designed by architect Peter Zumthor, the building provides elevated exhibition space for the museum’s permanent collection. All artwork is displayed on one level of open space in a non-hierarchical layout of cultures, traditions and eras, with approximately 155,000 pieces on display spanning 6,000 years of art history. The space is flexible and accommodates diverse curatorial projects and visitors’ personal paths. The project marks another step in the institution’s 20-year transformation into a world-class museum and the most comprehensive museum in the Western United States.
The new David Geffen Gallery forms a cultural complex consisting of a 900-foot-long horizontal glass and concrete building with an open plaza and new outdoor public spaces. The building’s curved exhibit floor is set 30 feet above the street and offers views of Los Angeles, including Hancock Park and Wilshire Boulevard. The interior is organized into galleries of varying scale, configuration, and lighting conditions. The exhibition space includes both a covered interior gallery and a terrace gallery. The floor plan does not prescribe a specific route for visitors, but provides an open environment for exploration, encouraging personal discovery and curatorial freedom. Following the tradition of modern concrete architecture, the envelope consists of floor-to-ceiling glass panels and tailored curtains made of sputtered chrome fibers. Transparent with a metallic luster to protect works that are sensitive to light.
The upper floors are supported by seven pavilions and shaded open spaces that will house public art, education, public programs, theater, retail, and restaurants. The 207,000 square feet of ground floor is a commissioned work by Mariana Castillo Debord and is titled “ feathered changesco-produced with Peter Zumthor. Other notable works include those of Pedro Reyes. Trali (2026), an 18-foot-tall stone sculpture set against the backdrop of the museum facade. Jeff Koons’ split lockr is a 37-foot-tall living sculpture composed of more than 45,000 flowering plants chosen for Southern California’s climate. and Alexander Calder’s Three Quintains (Hello Girls) (1964), a fountain work reimagined within a new pool designed by Zumthor.
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The first installation was developed collaboratively by 45 curators and displayed a diverse range of works from the museum’s collection across 110,000 square feet of gallery space. The installation uses the Mediterranean, as well as the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans, as a framework to explore the connections between cultural and artistic traditions. Works in the Atlantic Gallery examine how artistic traditions developed independently around the Atlantic rim over thousands of years. The Pacific Gallery explores the dynamic interactions shaped by indigenous voyages, imperial expansion, and global trade. The Indian Ocean has been introduced as one of humanity’s oldest maritime communication networks, and is home to many of the world’s oldest port cities. The Mediterranean Gallery considers the interconnectedness of the region’s cultures through shared materials, techniques, and stylistic practices. LACMA also commissioned four major new works to mark the opening of the David Geffen Gallery.
Inaugural activities will be held from April 16 to June 20 and include an opening gala, special access and visits, a full day of NexGen LA programs and activities on May 3, free youth membership for LA County residents age 17 and under, a block party with an art parade, and public space activations. Other recent opening announcements include O’Donnell + Tuomey’s V&A East Museum, which opened to the public in East London on April 18, 2026; The opening of Milan Design Week 2026. It will be held from April 20th to 26th as a city-wide platform where design serves as a form of cultural practice and inquiry. And the Goethe Institute in Senegal, built by Kéré Architecture, has officially opened.
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