Los Angeles

Key Players

Owner Armand Hammer Museum of Art & Cultural Center

Lead Design Firm Michael Maltzan Architecture Inc.

Contractor MATT Construction

Structural Engineer Guy Nordenson and Associates

Spanning the Los Angeles museum’s center courtyard, the white-painted 36-ft bridge connects the second-floor permanent gallery in the east wing to the temporary galleries in the west. The curving bridge offsets the museum’s orthogonal architecture, improves pedestrian flow and creates new event opportunities.

Completed in February, the bridge incorporates an integrally colored topping slab over a composite concrete slab on Epicore metal deck. This is perforated by 14 circular frosted glass pavers illuminated by LED strip lighting. Also painted white, the supporting structure is meant to be seen, with criss-crossing on its underside, creating a cat’s cradle effect for ground-level observers. To reduce impact to the operating museum, crews preassembled pieces, limited onsite welding and completed much of the work during off hours.