After eight years of planning and construction, the nearly $500-million Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will raise the curtain this September on an eye-popping museum and theater complex that honors the past, is designed to resist future seismic forces and appears to defy the laws of gravity.
The academy's 40,281-sq-ft reinforced concrete Sphere, which will host the David Geffen Theater, is the newest star of the show. Designed by Renzo Piano with executive architect Gensler, the futuristic architecture appears to float above its piazza like a flying saucer.