NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

The Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County confronted a long-standing gap: the museum campus felt closed-off, limited in performance spaces, and insufficiently connected to the community and park. The challenge was to design an expansion that opens up transparency, adds flexible performance capacity, and serves as a cultural gateway for LA residents.

Led by Frederick Fisher & Partners (with landscape by Studio-MLA and interiors by Studio Joseph), the design strategy was to fuse new construction with adaptive reuse across ~75,000 sf. A new transparent glass facade and a metal scrim peel back walls to allow views from Exposition Park into the museum. The Commons includes a multipurpose 400-seat Theater with retractable/raked seating to accommodate films, performances, and public forums. While a free Welcome Center featuring a monumental 75-foot sauropod skeleton (“Gnatalie”) and landmark mural; landscaped plaza, cafe, retail, and outdoor gathering spaces serves as a warm and welcoming entrance to the Theater. Advisory groups—including Native American councils—shaped the entry, landscape, and programming to ensure cultural relevance and inclusion.

Opened in 2024 for ~$75 million, NHM Commons delivers a new performance theater, transparent entry, and inclusive public spaces. Stakeholders gain a facility that enhances community outreach, art-science educational programming, and visitor access, while the city inherits a welcoming “front porch” that bridges museum, park, and public life.