Until that Frank Gehry tower starts going up in Santa Monica, all architectural eyes are on The Broad, the Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed art museum under construction on Grand Avenue. (It topped out in January and should be open mid-2014.) The design for the building is nicknamed "the vault and the veil" for its solid base and its honeycombed shroud. The Architect's Newspaper took a tour and explains how that veil will float: the entire thing will be held up by a "touchdown beam," "a 65-foot-long, 1.5 foot-wide, 2-inch thick, V-shaped member of built-up structural steel plate that resembles the hull of a Viking ship." The beam is 83,000 pounds and shipped in one piece from Germany. When in place, it'll "fit handily below grade so the veil will appear to emerge from the concrete." After it's all put together, the veil will be clad in glass fiber reinforced concrete (which will be fiberglassy). Meanwhile, the roof will get a curvy cladding of glass fiber reinforced gypsum and 399 glass skylights, "all angled to face north, to create a glowing, rhythmic effect."
· IN CONSTRUCTION> THE BROAD [A/N]
· Tour the Under-Construction The Broad Museum on Grand Ave. [Curbed LA]
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