LACMA isn’t just a museum; it’s an internationally recognized icon in LA’s cultural landscape. As Peter Zumthor’s design for the new Geffen Galleries nears completion, architects, art lovers, and taxpayers alike are questioning whether the redesign will be a future masterpiece or an expensive misstep. 

The ambitious undertaking that seeks not only to physically redefine a Los Angeles institution but also to re-envision how art is experienced has proven to be a gamble. Marked by multiple redesigns, delays, and escalating cost, the project has resulted in a structure stripped of some of Zumthor’s initial characteristic details. With polarizing reactions from Los Angeles residents, art critics, and the architectural community, the stakes extend beyond the museum’s reputation--it’s part of a broader conversation about art, architectural authorship, public accountability, and urban transformation.

Join the L.A. Forum for a dynamic conversation moderated by Jasmine Benyamin where architects, Frank Escher, John Southern, Linda Taalman, and Mohamed Sharif offer distinct perspectives on LACMA’s transformation, its responsibility to its stakeholders, and the implications for public projects and civic architecture in Los Angeles. 

Panelists: 

• Frank Escher, Escher Gunewardena Architecture

• John Southern, Urban Operations

• Linda Taalman, Taalman Architecture

• Mohamed Sharif, Sharif, Lynch Architecture

Moderator:

• Jasmine Benyamin

Date: Thursday, November 14, 2024

Time: 7 PM - 9 PM

Location: THE BAG, 2030 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Please note street parking only. This event is ADA accessible. 

Tickets: RSVP Here

About Our Speakers: 

Frank Escher has been principal, in partnership with Ravi GuneWardena at Escher GuneWardena Architecture since 1995. The firm’s work ranges from residential to commercial and institutional projects. It includes collaborations with contemporary artists (including Mike Kelley, Stephen Prina, and Sharon Lockhart), art-related projects (Blum & Poe Gallery, Los Angeles) and numerous exhibition design projects internationally including the current Jeweled Isle exhibition at LACMA. Preservation-related projects encompass works by Schindler, Neutra, A. Q. Jones, Lautner, Eames and Paul R. Williams. Escher has served on the boards of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, the John Lautner Foundation, and the Julius Shulman Institute. He co-curated Between Earth and Heaven: The Architecture of John Lautner (Hammer Museum, Los Angeles). Escher studied at the Federal Technical University (ETH, Zurich), and has taught at Cal Poly Pomona, University of Southern California, University of Oregon, and the Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL, Lausanne).

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John Southern is a licensed architect and principal of Urban Operations, an architecture and construction consulting firm based in Los Angeles, California. As the head of the studio, he has managed the design and construction of several notable hillside homes in Southern California, a few of which were recently published in the book, Edgy Architecture. In addition to practicing architecture, John has written several critical articles on contemporary architecture and urbanism for publications such as Archinect, Art Papers, Domus, and The Architects Newspaper. His research interests in academia cover the cultural history and sociological impact of the skyscraper typology on 21st Century urbanism. He is a former board member of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design.

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Living and practicing in Los Angeles, Linda Taalman leads her company IT House Inc. and directs her studio Taalman Architecture, where her accomplishments and contemporary art collaborations have received numerous accolades. A graduate of the Cooper Union, she is an Associate Professor of Architecture at Woodbury University. Taalman’s collaborative explorations in architecture investigate the potential of building technologies and systems, sustainability, practicality, and ingenuity. She has lectured on her practice for Copenhagen’s 3 Days of Design, the Architecture League in New York, the Aspen Institute, California College of the Arts, Columbia University, Dwell on Design, the Sculpture Center, Yale University, and ARTFORUM Berlin. Her work has been exhibited at international institutions including MOMA, New Museum, MAK, Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia, Art Basel, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, and the Vitra Design Museum.

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Mohamed Sharif teaches in the Department of Architecture and Design at UCLA in the graduate and undergraduate program, which he directs. His architecture practice, Sharif, Lynch: Architecture, has completed several award-winning projects of various types and scales in metropolitan Los Angeles.Published in journals, periodicals, and catalogs, including 306090, arq, Constructs, JAE, the Getty Center, and Log, Sharif served on the editorial board of arq (Cambridge University Press) from 2006 to 2016 and on the advisory board of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, serving as the Forum's President from 2007 to 2009.

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Jasmine Benyamin is Adjunct Associate Professor at the USC School of Architecture, having previously taught at CCA, Texas A&M University, SCI-Arc and as Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning (SARUP). Her interdisciplinary scholarship addresses architectural manifestations in art practice and popular culture. In addition to translating several architectural monographs, her essays have appeared in the Journal for the Society of Architectural Historians (JSAH), Thresholds, Constructs, AD, the Journal of Architectural Education (JAE), Offramp, DOCOMOMO journal, LARA, the Harvard Design Magazine, and the Journal of Architecture. Her books include MASTERcrit (ORO, 2022), and a co-edited volume (with Elena Manferdini) Full Spectrum: Colour in Contemporary Architecture (London: RIBA Books, 2023). 

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Special thanks to Bestor Architecture and THE BAG for hosting this event.

Photo credit:

1) Atelier Peter Zumthor 

2) Museum Associates / LACMA 

3) Ben Hidalgo 

4) Atelier Peter Zumthor