Analysis, Design and Construction of Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Presented By: Jacqueline Li, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Description: The architectural concept for the new Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Building for the Permanent Collection developed by Atelier Peter Zumthor is an organically shaped building in architecturally exposed concrete. The exhibition level is supported on ten reinforced concrete service towers that extend from ground level to the roof. The organic plan geometry is structurally composed of a post-tensioned concrete framing system following a repetitive rhomboidal pattern. With cantilevers up to 85ft and a span of 165ft over Wilshire Boulevard, the LACMA structural system utilizes post-tensioned monostrand tendons in the slabs, the beams and within the walls. The tendon layout was calibrated for long term deflection to the allowable movement of a continuous glass facade around the exhibition floor plate. The building is monolithic without any joints and careful consideration for the construction sequence had to be placed to minimize cracking potential.