LACMA's new David Geffen Galleries, designed by architect Peter Zumthor, feature custom-tinted concrete walls that break from traditional museum aesthetics. The walls are coated with a transparent, nano-scale mineral glaze developed by Zumthor and Swiss craftsman Marius Fontana, manufactured by German company Keim. The palette—dusky red, vibrant blue, and nuanced black—was inspired by ancient Indigenous American pigments prepared by artist Porfirio Gutiérrez for the museum's exhibition "We Live in Painting: The Nature of Color in Mesoamerican Art." Diana Magaloni, LACMA's Senior Deputy Director for Conservation, Curatorial and Exhibitions, led the conceptualization and application of the glazes, which are designed to enhance the building's interplay of light and shadow without obscuring its raw concrete surfaces.
This article matters because it showcases how architectural and curatorial innovation can merge to create a museum space that is both conceptually and materially tied to its environment. The use of ancient Indigenous color traditions, translated through cutting-edge paint technology, reflects a growing trend in museums to honor local histories and materials while pushing the boundaries of exhibition design. The Geffen Galleries represent a significant departure from conventional white-cube gallery spaces, potentially influencing how future museums approach the relationship between architecture, art, and place.