Is Peter Zumthor’s New LACMA a Good Museum? | Architecture Review
1.1万 次观看 · 2026-05-21
空间与建筑
Peter Zumthor's new LACMA — the David Geffen Galleries — is finally open in Los
Angeles, and after following this project for nearly a decade, I went to see whether
the building actually works as a museum.
In this LACMA review I walk through Zumthor's first building in the United States: the
massive concrete galleries suspended above Wilshire Boulevard, how natural light
behaves in the exhibition spaces, the circulation strategy, and what it feels like to
move through a museum that deliberately refuses to tell you where to go. I get into
Do Ho Suh's installation, how the David Geffen Galleries change the relationship
between art and the city, and why the new LACMA has become the most argued-about
piece of architecture in Los Angeles.
CHAPTERS
00:00 The most argued-about building in Los Angeles
00:48 What Zumthor actually built
01:32 First impressions of the David Geffen Galleries
03:13 The concrete, in person
05:15 Natural light in the galleries
07:10 Circulation: why you get lost
08:45 What the building gets wrong as a museum
10:23 Do Ho Suh's installation
12:30 Art vs. architecture — which one wins
14:41 So, is it a good museum?
15:50 What to watch next
WATCH NEXT
What Japanese Toilets Teach Us About Public Space → https://youtu.be/DMy7GEYMlNY
Full Architecture Tour playlist → https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqCJdABouMu-zB9eX2I5nQBozdIj3tu-x
WHO AM I
I’m Vlanka, principal of VERB/. I also teach architecture at University of Southern California.
Connect with VERB/:
Website: https://www.verbarchworkshop.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/verbarchworkshop
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@verbarchworkshop
Filmed at the David Geffen Galleries, Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
Los Angeles, California.
#lacma #peterzumthor #davidgeffengalleries
Angeles, and after following this project for nearly a decade, I went to see whether
the building actually works as a museum.
In this LACMA review I walk through Zumthor's first building in the United States: the
massive concrete galleries suspended above Wilshire Boulevard, how natural light
behaves in the exhibition spaces, the circulation strategy, and what it feels like to
move through a museum that deliberately refuses to tell you where to go. I get into
Do Ho Suh's installation, how the David Geffen Galleries change the relationship
between art and the city, and why the new LACMA has become the most argued-about
piece of architecture in Los Angeles.
CHAPTERS
00:00 The most argued-about building in Los Angeles
00:48 What Zumthor actually built
01:32 First impressions of the David Geffen Galleries
03:13 The concrete, in person
05:15 Natural light in the galleries
07:10 Circulation: why you get lost
08:45 What the building gets wrong as a museum
10:23 Do Ho Suh's installation
12:30 Art vs. architecture — which one wins
14:41 So, is it a good museum?
15:50 What to watch next
WATCH NEXT
What Japanese Toilets Teach Us About Public Space → https://youtu.be/DMy7GEYMlNY
Full Architecture Tour playlist → https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqCJdABouMu-zB9eX2I5nQBozdIj3tu-x
WHO AM I
I’m Vlanka, principal of VERB/. I also teach architecture at University of Southern California.
Connect with VERB/:
Website: https://www.verbarchworkshop.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/verbarchworkshop
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@verbarchworkshop
Filmed at the David Geffen Galleries, Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
Los Angeles, California.
#lacma #peterzumthor #davidgeffengalleries