Opened in 2021, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has become a significant landmark in Los Angeles’ cultural landscape, seamlessly blending historic preservation with bold contemporary design. Located at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue within the Miracle Mile, the museum comprises the restored 1939 May Company Building (now the Saban Building) and the Sphere Building, designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop in collaboration with Gensler and SPF:a. This architectural dialogue between the past and the future mirrors the evolving narrative of cinema itself.
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Technical Information
- Architects1-26: RPBW | Renzo Piano Building Workshop
- Architect of Record: Gensler
- Collaborating Architect: SPF:a
- Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
- Client: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
- Area: 23,225 m2 | 250,000 sq. ft.
- Project Year: 2012 – 2021
- Photographs: Nic Lehoux | © Academy Museum Foundation
The Academy Museum gives us the opportunity to honor the past while creating a building for the future—in fact, for the possibility of many futures.
– Renzo Piano
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Photographs
Architectural Concept and Spatial Experience
The museum’s foundation is the former May Company Building, a Streamline Moderne landmark. Originally designed as a department store in 1939, the building embodies the optimism of pre-war American modernism with its iconic golden mosaic-tiled cylindrical corner. Renzo Piano’s intervention respects this legacy, restoring the façade while adapting the structure to house over 50,000 square feet of exhibition space. The removal of post-1946 additions allowed the building to regain its original form while accommodating contemporary museum functions.
Inside, the architectural language is one of continuity and fluidity, ensuring that the exhibition spaces retain a sense of openness. The adaptation prioritizes natural light, reactivating the building’s relationship with the street and inviting visitors into an immersive experience that unfolds through a sequence of spatial transitions.
Contrasting the historical solidity of the Saban Building, the Sphere Building embodies movement, lightness, and innovation. Elevated on four reinforced concrete piers, this volume houses the 1,000-seat David Geffen Theater, a space dedicated to the cinematic experience. The sphere’s glass and steel structure creates a sense of levitation, reinforcing the ethereal quality of film as an art form.
Piano describes the design as an “imaginary voyage through space and time,” a metaphor that aligns with the cinematic experience. Visitors transition from the galleries of the Saban Building into the theater through a carefully choreographed sequence, creating a spatial journey that echoes the narrative structure of film. The Dolby Family Terrace, located atop the Sphere, provides a visual and conceptual pause, offering panoramic views of Hollywood, a symbolic reference to the origins of cinema.
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Structural Innovation
The Sphere Building is an engineering feat that demanded innovative structural solutions. Designed with Buro Happold as a structural engineer, the building’s primary support system consists of four massive concrete piers, allowing the sphere to maintain its floating appearance. The theater enclosure’s glass-supported steel framework provides transparency and lightness, reinforcing the interplay between materiality and form.
The museum’s material choices reflect its dual identity. The Saban Building’s limestone and golden mosaic tiles preserve the texture of history, while the Sphere’s steel and glass look toward the future of architecture. This contrast is not simply aesthetic but programmatic, emphasizing the museum’s role in bridging past narratives with future cinematic explorations.
The interior materiality follows a similar conceptual approach. While the restored historic building embraces warm, textured finishes, the Sphere incorporates high-performance acoustic materials designed in collaboration with Arup North America and Jaffe Holden, ensuring an unparalleled cinematic experience.
Urban and Cultural Context: Reinventing the Miracle Mile
The Academy Museum’s design is not merely about form but about creating urban engagement. The project opens onto Wilshire Boulevard, connecting with Los Angeles’ broader cultural institutions, such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the Petersen Automotive Museum. The outdoor piazza, an essential design component, extends the museum’s influence beyond its walls, creating a public space that fosters interaction and cultural exchange.
The museum integrates sustainable design strategies, ensuring long-term environmental resilience. Atelier Ten’s sustainability consultancy played a crucial role in optimizing energy efficiency, passive ventilation, and daylighting strategies. The adaptive reuse of the May Company Building is itself a statement on sustainability, preserving embodied carbon while reducing demolition waste.
Additionally, the façade engineering by Knippers Helbig and Simpson Gumpertz & Heger’s waterproofing expertise ensure the building’s longevity in response to Los Angeles’ climate conditions.
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Plans
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Image Gallery
About RPBW
Founded in 1981 by Renzo Piano, the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) is an internationally acclaimed architectural firm known for its innovative, context-sensitive designs that merge technology, materiality, and environmental consciousness. With offices in Genoa, Paris, and New York, RPBW has created landmark projects such as the Centre Pompidou, The Shard, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, all reflecting Piano’s philosophy of architecture as a dialogue between history, space, and innovation.
Credits and Additional Notes
- Partners in Charge: Mark Carroll, Stefano Scarabicchi
- Associate in Charge: Lorenzo Priano
- Project Architects: David Hammerman, Jonathan Jones, Kevin Joyce
- Additional Team Members: Silvia Casarotto, Elena Donadel, Satoshi Ishida, Marco Matthews, Paolo Pelanda, Tom Perkins, Elisa Trezzani, Natalia Cheng, Giacomo Dattola, Erica Ludwig, Brian Ruswick, Heather Travers, Andres Zambrano
- Modeling Team: Federico Cappellini, Isabella Corsaro, Daniel Lange, Francesco Terranova
- Structural, MEP, and Lighting Engineering: Buro Happold
- Façade Engineering: Knippers Helbig
- Theater Consulting & Acoustics: Arup North America
- Acoustics & A/V Consulting: Jaffe Holden
- Lighting Design: Fisher Marantz Stone
- Fire/Life Safety Consulting: Exponent, Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
- Vertical Transportation: Lerch Bates, Kiran Consulting Group, HKA Elevator Consulting
- Sustainability Consulting: Atelier Ten, Transsolar
- Building Envelope & Waterproofing: Simpson Gumpertz & Heger
- Traffic Engineering: Gibson Transportation Consulting
- Cost Consulting: AECOM, Stuart-Lynn Company
- Interior Façade Engineering: Walter P. Moore
- Restoration Consultant: John Fidler Preservation Technology
- Building Maintenance: CS Caulkins
- Hardware Consulting: Finish Hardware Technology
- Project Manager: Paratus Group
- May Company (Saban) Building Gross Square Footage: 250,000 sq. ft.
- Sphere Building Gross Square Footage: 40,280 sq. ft.
- Total Exhibition Space: >50,000 sq. ft.
- Total Site Area: 98,700 sq. ft.
- Main Theater Capacity: 1,000 seats
