Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in Los Angeles, United States

January 07, 2011 Category: Cultural, Public Buildings

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County that located in Los Angeles, United States, was designed by CO Architects. While changes on the 1913 Building were primarily invisible — the directive was to retrofit and restore the Beaux-Arts gem and its infrastructure without affecting its appearance — CO Architects’ reinvention of NHM’s North Campus will involve a highly visible transformation of the façades, ingress and egress points, public areas, and exhibition spaces.

CO Architects also graded the building’s front grounds to flow into what was formerly the basement level. Ultimately, programmed indoor and outdoor spaces will intersect all along the street level, including ticketing, information facilities, and a new restaurant extending out to an open-air patio.

Since the master plan involves green space reclaimed from a former parking lot, CO Architects designed a new two-story car park — a subterranean and on-grade mesh structure for 221 vehicles. The flowering vine-topped facility is sited to minimize impact on pedestrian flow throughout North Campus, and is designed for maximum natural light and ventilation. Thick, circular glass bricks embedded into its floor and walkways will allow daylight to flow between levels and from outside. A 12-foot green screen will alert drivers to vehicular entrances at the north and south ends of the structure, and resin-cased nature specimens such as insects and leaves, will delineate parking spaces.

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County design by CO Architects