The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s new David Geffen Galleries will open to the public in April 2026, the museum announced Friday as scaffolding is coming down around the Peter Zumthor-designed building, revealing the most expansive view yet of the 900-foot-long, poured concrete structure spanning Wilshire Boulevard.
During The Times’ tour of the site this week, LACMA said 90% of the construction has been completed and the project is moving into its final phase. In early 2025, the museum said, it will begin moving key staff and operations into the building. At some point, likely in the spring, museum members and others will get a chance to tour the empty building, LACMA said. Pieces of the museum’s collection will then begin arriving in the 110,000 square feet of gallery space.
Drivers and pedestrians approaching the museum from the east will pass under the full expanse of the building’s 150-foot, free span bridge, which frames Chris Burden’s famous “Urban Light” sculpture as the boulevard curves slightly north and continues down toward the LACMA campus at a slight downhill grade. The portion of the building that perches on the south side of Wilshire, where a surface parking lot once stood, will include a cafe that will look out on the street, as well as a 300-seat theater housed in one of seven, 30-foot-tall ground-level pavilions holding the museum’s exhibition floor aloft. Other pavilion bases will hold a restaurant, the LACMA store and the W.M. Keck Education Center, the museum said.