About the Building
The Architect: Thom Mayne & Morphosis
Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne is the founder of the influential studio Morphosis and co-founder of the prestigious Southern California Institute of Architecture. For more than 40 years, Morphosis has practiced at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, and design. With a team of more than 60 in Los Angeles, New York, Shanghai and Seoul, Morphosis focuses on rigorous research and innovation, prioritizing performance-driven design that is environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable.
Atrium
The Atrium is the signature architectural feature of our new building, a dynamic, spectacular space through which all visitors will enter the museum. Visitors can glimpse the
surrounding galleries and museum shop, while the primary views are upward into the light-filled atrium that reveals those who are crossing the sky bridges.
Grand Staircase
The Grand Staircase is designed as a community gathering point, not only for the museum itself, but Orange County as a whole. Inspired by the steps at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Grand Staircase will foster a similar sense of togetherness, provide a place for the communities of Orange County to gather and engage, and to fill a void left by the absence of a civic center. The Grand Staircase is also a connector to the Argyros Plaza and the Segerstrom Center for the Arts campus.
Galleries
Doubling the size of its former space, OCMA’s new building features 25,000 square feet dedicated to its exhibition program. The open design of the Permanent Collection and Special Exhibition Pavilions offers OCMA unique opportunities to share in-depth surveys, thematic exhibitions, and the newest developments in contemporary art. The curved architecture of the Mezzanine Gallery allows for unique opportunities to program in an intimate space scaled to the human body, offering a direct connection between the art, architecture, and the audience, while the Avenue of the Arts light filled window gallery allows for direct connections between the art and the landscape.
Education Pavilion
For the first time in its history, OCMA has a dedicated space for learning with the opening of our new Education Pavilion. Centrally located on the museum’s Upper Plaza and adjacent to our Café and Bar, the Education Pavilion provides opportunities for museum educators to work in innovative ways, offering hands-on learning, and dynamic interdisciplinary programming.