The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has announced its official opening for the new Renzo Piano Building Workshop-designed moviemaking centre of the Academy Museum in Los Angeles. 

Announced at the 92nd Academy Awards ceremony, Hollywood actor Tom Hanks announced to the audience in the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles that the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will open to the public on Monday, December 14, 2020.

Image © Joshua White JWPictures / © Academy Museum Foundation

The new moviemaking centre of the Academy Museum has been underway since 2012, Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) released final version of the plans in 2018. 

The project redevelops the former 1938 May Company Department Store building, which was recently named the Saban Building on Wilshire Boulevard. 

Tom Hanks made the announcement in his capacity as museum trustee and co-chair of the Academy Museum campaign, along with co-chair Annette Bening and chair Bog Iger. 

Image © Academy Museum Foundation

Described as "the world’s premier movie museum," the new building, celebrating its history and imagining new possibilities, the additions to the building that date from 1946 have been removed and replaced with a spherical building that features the 1,000-seat David Geffen Theater and the Dolby Family Terrace with views towards Hollywood. 

The revitalized campus will feature more than 50,000 square feet of gallery space, two theaters, cutting-edge project spaces, an outdoor piazza, the rooftop terrace, an active education studio, a restaurant, and store.

Image © Academy Museum Foundation

"We can not wait to welcome the whole world to the Academy Museum. When our doors open December 14, our thrilling combination of exhibitions, screenings, and public and education programs will create unparalleled experiences for movie lovers everywhere," said Bill Kramer, Academy Museum Director. 

"This is a museum that only the academy could create: exciting and illuminating; historic and contemporary. we look forward to sharing the global reach of cinema," said Ron Meyer, Chair of the Academy Museum Board of trustees and vice chairman of NBCuniversal. 

Image © Joshua White JWPictures / © Academy Museum Foundation

"The dream of this museum will finally become a reality — a gathering place for filmmakers and movie fans from around the world, where we can share the oscars legacy and further fulfill the academy’s mission to connect the world through cinema," said Dawn Hudson, Academy CEO. 

Image © 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. The historic Saban Building is a wonderful example of Streamline Moderne style, which preserves the way people envisioned the future in 1939," said Renzo Piano. 

"The new structure, the Sphere Building, is a form that seems to lift off the ground into the perpetual, imaginary voyage through space and time that is moviegoing. 

"By connecting these two experiences we create something that is itself like a movie. You go from sequence to sequence, from the exhibition galleries to the film theater and the terrace, with everything blending into one experience," added Piano. 

Image © Academy Museum Foundation

Image © Renzo Piano Building Workshop / © Academy Museum Foundation / Image from l’autre image

Image © Renzo Piano Building Workshop / © Academy Museum Foundation / Image from l’autre image

Image © Renzo Piano Building Workshop / © Academy Museum Foundation / Image from l’autre image

Project facts

Name: Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

Location: Wilshire & fairfax, los angeles, CA

Design architect: Renzo Piano with renzo piano building workshop, new york, NY, with contribution to concept design by studio pali fekete architects

Executive architect: Gensler, Los Angeles, CA

Exhibition designer: Rick carter and gallagher & associates

Opening date: December 14, 2020

Top image © Academy Museum Foundation

All images © Joshua White JWPictures unless otherwise stated. 

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