DS+R will master plan a scheme to repurpose a 48,000 square feet, art deco style printing plant and integrate it with a new 50,000 square feet structure on a site along Oxford Street between Center and Addison streets in downtown Berkeley. The new $95 million museum complex site will link the campus and the active downtown arts and commerce districts. The unique location of the new museum is expected to increase public accessibility to BAM/PFA’s events, activities, and collections, including more than 16,000 works of art and 14,000 films and videos.
DS+R will work directly with San Francisco-based architecture firm EHDD, which is also the local firm of record for the BAM/PFA project.
The current Berkeley Art Museum building on Bancroft Way, designed by Mario Ciampi, was built in 1970. The building was deemed seismically unsafe in 1997, after a conducting a structural analysis. A subsequent seismic bracing of the museum has enabled BAM/PFA to remain open temporarily during the planning for a new facility.
In 2008, BAM/PFA unveiled plans for a new visual arts center, to be designed by the Japanese architect Toyo Ito. But economic uncertainly forced the university in 2009 to explore alternatives to Ito’s design. The new museum complex is targeted for completion by late 2014.
Nearly half of the total $95 million has been raised. Funds for the new museum will come from private sources and are being raised by BAM/PFA in partnership with the campus.
