Academy Selects Architecture Firm for Museum in Hollywood
Beverly Hills, CA(RUSHPRNEWS)November 8, 2007 — The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will be designed by French architecture firm Atelier Christian de Portzamparc, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis announced today. The selection was approved by the Academy’s Board of Governors, based on the recommendations of the Architect Selection Subcommittee, chaired by Academy member Jeannine Oppewall.
“It was important to the Academy that we select a firm with a track record of true collaboration with clients and fiscal responsibility, as well as impressive design work,†said Ganis. “Atelier Christian de Portzamparc surpasses our hopes in all of those areas, and having an architect on board is another significant step forward in the evolution of this project.â€
De Portzamparc, who in 1994 was awarded the Pritzker Prize – architecture’s highest honor – designed the Cité de la Musique and Café Beaubourg, both in Paris, and the French Embassy building in Berlin. In the United States, he has been lauded for his design of the LVMH Tower (Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton headquarters) in New York City.
“I have a true passion for cinema and often link this art to architecture: the art of motion, art of light, editing, sequencing of the time and the life, celebration of the living,†said de Portzamparc. “The Academy Museum will play a unique role in transporting visitors into the universe of movies.â€
“In part, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will demonstrate how film both reflects and shapes world culture, not just American culture,†said Oppewall. “So we researched and interviewed leading architects from all over the world to see who could best express the Academy’s vision of the museum. Ultimately, it was de Portzamparc who seemed the most in tune with that vision, and we know he and his team will have an exciting, creative approach to bringing it to fruition.â€
The Academy’s Architect Selection Subcommittee was comprised of Academy members Charles Bernstein, Arthur Cohen, Ganis, Arthur Hamilton, Curtis Hanson, Kathleen Kennedy, Oppewall, Frank Pierson, Robert Rehme, and Steven Spielberg.
The Academy previously named Gallagher & Associates as the exhibition design firm and E. Verner Johnson and Associates as the master planners of the museum campus. The Academy is now preparing to enter the public approvals process and is slated to begin fundraising efforts next year.
The Academy intends for its Museum of Motion Pictures to be located in Hollywood, adjacent to the Academy’s existing Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study at Vine Street and Fountain Avenue. Plans are underway for a museum campus that will span almost eight acres, with multiple buildings and open green space areas. Academy Executive Director Bruce Davis said the Academy hopes to break ground on the museum in 2009.
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