The Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County (NHMLAC) has selected Weiss/Manfredi to master plan the 13-acre La Brea Tar Pits campus. The New York–based firm's "Loops and Lenses" concept will connect the existing George C. Page Museum (re-envisioned as an event/gathering space) with Hancock Park via a triple loop walkway that, at just over half a mile long, defines and links three legible zones: a research-oriented area with excavation pits; a central green, fronting the museum buildings; and Tar Pit Lake. A separate new elliptical structure will house and display the museum collections.
“There is truly no place in the world as magical as La Brea Tar Pits,” firm founders Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi said in a statement. "We and our team are deeply honored and grateful for this once-in-a lifetime opportunity to reveal the multiple identities of the Tar Pits, the Museum, and Hancock Park." The architects will lead a multidisciplinary team that includes Michael Bierut of Pentagram, designer Karin Fong of Imaginary Forces, horticulturalist Robert Perry, paleobotanist Dr. Carol Gee, artist and naturalist Mark Dion, and other Los Angeles-based consultants.
Weiss/Manfredi unveiled their concept for the project in August, along with finalists Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Dorte Mandrup.
The museum tells RECORD that the next year will be spent "visioning and developing the design concept," and that the project is expected to complete in some 5-7 years.