Readers React: LACMA’s new building will be too small and uninspiring. It’s time to start over

To the editor: Regarding the plan for the new Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the ever-shrinking building that was originally intended to expand and update an aging campus, taxpayers — not to mention those of us who are also devoted to LACMA as a vital cultural institution — are now faced with the prospect of funding a structure that provides less space, flexibility and architectural interest than what we had been promised at the outset.

The March 29 front-page piece by Carolina A. Miranda and other articles on LACMA last month all throw into serious question the wisdom of the current project as proposed. Let us hope that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors steps up to the task and confronts the critical questions about form, function and financing that it has been avoiding for years and puts an end to this ill-advised plan.

It’s time to go back to the drawing board. We may need a new building for LACMA, but this is not it.

Margaret Bach, Santa Monica

The writer is founding president of the Los Angeles Conservancy. The views expressed here are her own.

..

To the editor: As a designer, I’ve always believed that a strong concept underlying a project provides cohesion and understanding. But I learned early on that allowing the concept to single-mindedly drive the design process can lead one down the road to a quagmire or possibly a tar pit of compromise.

This appears to be the pit architect Peter Zumthor and LACMA Director Michael Govan have fallen into. Adhering to the single floor, tar-pit shaped concept now results in a structure occupying more exterior space with less exhibition space than what it will replace.

Since the new building will use all the remaining space on LACMA’s campus, the loss of exhibition space cannot be rectified by future construction. There’s still time to fix this. It’s an art museum. It’s about the art.

John Sherwood, Topanga

..

To the editor: I’m sure officials at the Louvre, the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York are duly chastened to learn that despite their collections, their institutions cannot be considered great museums since their main buildings are not horizontal.

As for LACMA, I am sure that visitors will be thrilled to learn that the replacement building, though erected at great cost, will be considerably smaller and able to display even less of the museum’s collection, and that they are supposed to be impressed by a building resembling a mediocre motel one passes when driving along a meagerly populated portion of the interstate.

After reading the article, I wasn’t sure whether I was depressed or outraged.

Patricia M. Wolfe, Los Angeles

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook