Like a concrete aircraft carrier: was LA's giant new $724m gallery really worth all the carbon emissions?

"The new David Geffen Galleries of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is a $724m mothership designed by the fabled Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. It is less a museum than a mighty piece of infrastructure, a 110,000 sq ft warehouse-cum-bridge, jacked up nine metres in the air and looming above the street with a brooding, muscular heft."

"Two decades in the making, and subject to tortuous years of delays, controversies and cost escalations, building on a tar swamp in a seismic zone is not straightforward. If concrete lasts 500 years, it's very environmentally friendly!"

"Govan cut his teeth at the Guggenheim, and on Frank Gehry's Bilbao outpost, where he clearly got a taste for the transformative fairy dust of signature architecture. He later moved to Dia:Beacon, in New York's Hudson Valley, where he commissioned Zumthor for a project that was ultimately unrealised."

The David Geffen Galleries at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is a $724 million structure designed by Peter Zumthor. This 110,000 sq ft building, elevated nine meters above the street, features a unique design reminiscent of retro-futurism. The project faced numerous delays and challenges, including its location on a tar swamp in a seismic zone. Michael Govan, Lacma's director, aimed to create a monumental museum to attract donations and artworks, drawing inspiration from his experiences at the Guggenheim and Dia:Beacon.

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