Pasadena Museum of California Art
Pasadena, Calif.
MDA Johnson Favaro

Evocative architecture demonstrates a grand commitment to artistic principles

© MDA Johnson Favaro

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The mission of this 30,000 square-foot, privately funded public museum is to display a collection of permanent and traveling California art accumulated since the founding of the state. The unusual and provocative design illustrates the client’s commitment to high quality public and urban buildings that contribute to the quality of life within the fabric of the city.

Respectful of the traditions and character of the historic core of Pasadena, where the museum is located, and yet forward thinking in the exercise of formal and spatial innovation, the building is a clear evocation of the team’s belief in the role of architecture as both repository of the collective memory of city life and catalyst for change.

The building consists of parking and street-level lobby at the ground floor; main lobby, main gallery, gift shop, and community room on the second floor; and a smaller gallery on the third floor. The garden and terrace on the third floor afford views of the dome of City Hall to the west and the San Gabriel Mountains to the north. The parted "drapery folds" of the facade that reveal the automobile and pedestrian entry define a formal vocabulary that repeats and transforms in the manner of a fugue across the sequence of entry from street level up the main stair. The culmination of this progression is a second floor, open-air lobby that places the visitor between the gallery entrance to the south and the large opening in the main facade framing the view of the mountains.

Formal name of Project:
Pasadena Museum of California Art

Location:
Pasadena, Calif.

Gross square footage:
30,000 sq ft

Total construction cost:
$3.2 million

Owner:
Bob and Arlene Oltman

Architect:
MDA Johnson Favaro
5898 Blackwelder St.
Culver City CA 90232
Tel (310) 559-5720
Fax (310) 559-8220