The Broad is an art museum opened in 2015 and designed to house and showcase the post-war and contemporary art collections of philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad. Located in downtown Los Angeles, the museum is home to nearly 2,000 works divided between two floors of gallery space. It is also the headquarters of The Broad Art Foundation’s worldwide lending library.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro worked in close collaboration with Arup on the design of The Broad, helping showcase a new and unique ‘veil-and-vault’ concept while also assisting with Building Information Modelling of the building services and energy-saving strategies for the building. We also provided mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineering, along with commissioning, lighting design, acoustic consulting, fire/life safety consulting, and earlier-phase audio visual and IT.

The Broad’s design is just as unique and forward-looking as the contemporary art collection it houses, its ‘vault-and-veil’ revealing the ‘vault’ of the museum’s archives, surrounded by a honeycomb-like ‘veil’ design. Arup’s energy-saving designs helped the Broad attain LEED Gold rating; the museum was also named Daylight Project of the Year at the 2016 Lighting Design Awards, and was named Southern California's 2016 Project of Year by Engineering News-Record.

Render of the Broad collection

Arup designed specialty daylighting, sprinkler, and environmental control systems to protect the works of the Broad's collection on display.

People inside the Broad art museum Los Angeles

The building’s energy use, projected to be lower than the current California Energy Code requirements by at least 20%, assisted in the goal of achieving a LEED Gold rating.

Close up of the Broad art museum facade
Partners & collaborators

Diller Scofidio + Renfro / Gensler / IDG Parkitects Inc / Adamson and Associates, Inc
/ Matt Construction