Preview: the Bay Area gears up for the new BAMPFA by Diller Scofidio + Renfro

While there's still four months to go until its official grand opening in January, the new Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive [BAMPFA] is shaping up to be a blockbuster addition to the Bay Area's active creative scene.
In an inspired case of adaptive reuse, Diller Scofidio + Renfro have transformed a 1930s-era former printing plant into an expansive, multifaceted ode to multimedia. What once was a kind of 'bunker,' says BAMPFA Director Larry Rinder, is now a fully fenestrated, natural-light-filled haven that achieves the dual goals of accessibility and transparency, guided by a serene sense of flow and interplay from the exterior, and throughout the interior. Coupled with the bold red and grey highlights, it achieves an almost 2001: A Space Odyssey-like effect.
The existing buildings included a disused factory and adjacent office. They were largely intact, but beset by seismic structural issues - a major factor in the earthquake-prone Bay Area - and abandoned for years in the centre of the bustling downtown college city. Diller Scofidio + Renfro kept the original structures, complete with Art Deco inflections and a trio of skylight bays in the expansive main event space, and united them with a second-story cafe 'dropped' in between. This angular addition cantilevers out over Center Street and cuts a modern silhouette against the backdrop of a clear blue sky.
Excavating the entire footprint doubled the square footage, and allowed for a series of subterranean spaces that include four additional galleries in the more traditional, four-white-wall style, as well as study centers with resources once only available to specialists. 'The goal is to store and preserve artifacts, but also allow people to engage with art in ways they haven't before,' Rinder says.
A pair of purpose-built theaters will offer screenings both intimate - in the smaller, 32-seater - and robust - in a Meyer Sound-optimized auditorium that can accommodate 230 viewers - plus a 12-piece-band for silent film performances. And in dedication to its role as a true boon for the community, a 30-foot-wide LCD screen will adorn the facade on the flip-side, opening up the possibility for '24/7 public programs and screenings,' Rinder says. 'Our role is as a part of the life of the city-and the city doesn't close down at 5pm.'
Scheduled to open officially in 2016, the project is an inspired case of adaptive reuse
The archive will be housed in a transformed 1930s-era former printing plant; including a disused factory and adjacent office
Diller Scofidio + Renfro redesigned the space into a modern, multimedia hub that will be open and accessible to the public
The existing buildings' gallery spaces will now be complemented by a series of subterranean display halls; this was achieved by excavating the entire footprint and doubling the scheme's square footage
An angular addition cuts a modern silhouette for the archive, creating contemporary shapes inside and out
INFORMATION
Photography: Iwan Baan
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
The Sialia 45 cruiser is a welcome addition to the new generation of electric boats
Polish shipbuilder Sialia Yachts has launched the Sialia 45, a 14m all-electric cruiser for silent running
By Jonathan Bell
-
Tokyo design studio We+ transforms microalgae into colours
Could microalgae be the sustainable pigment of the future? A Japanese research project investigates
By Danielle Demetriou
-
What to see at London Craft Week 2025
With London Craft Week just around the corner, Wallpaper* rounds up the must-see moments from this year’s programme
By Francesca Perry
-
Los Angeles businesses regroup after the 2025 fires
In the third instalment of our Rebuilding LA series, we zoom in on Los Angeles businesses and the architecture and social fabric around them within the impacted Los Angeles neighbourhoods
By Mimi Zeiger
-
‘Fall Guy’ director David Leitch takes us inside his breathtaking Los Angeles home
For movie power couple David Leitch and Kelly McCormick, interior designer Vanessa Alexander crafts a home with the ultimate Hollywood ending
By Anna Fixsen
-
The Lighthouse draws on Bauhaus principles to create a new-era workspace campus
The Lighthouse, a Los Angeles office space by Warkentin Associates, brings together Bauhaus, brutalism and contemporary workspace design trends
By Ellie Stathaki
-
This minimalist Wyoming retreat is the perfect place to unplug
This woodland home that espouses the virtues of simplicity, containing barely any furniture and having used only three materials in its construction
By Anna Solomon
-
We explore Franklin Israel’s lesser-known, progressive, deconstructivist architecture
Franklin Israel, a progressive Californian architect whose life was cut short in 1996 at the age of 50, is celebrated in a new book that examines his work and legacy
By Michael Webb
-
A new hilltop California home is rooted in the landscape and celebrates views of nature
WOJR's California home House of Horns is a meticulously planned modern villa that seeps into its surrounding landscape through a series of sculptural courtyards
By Jonathan Bell
-
The Frick Collection's expansion by Selldorf Architects is both surgical and delicate
The New York cultural institution gets a $220 million glow-up
By Stephanie Murg
-
Remembering architect David M Childs (1941-2025) and his New York skyline legacy
David M Childs, a former chairman of architectural powerhouse SOM, has passed away. We celebrate his professional achievements
By Jonathan Bell