Visitors to the Getty Center are about to say goodbye to the museum’s familiar arrival routine, and hello to a dramatic new front door designed to completely transform the way millions of people experience one of LA’s most iconic cultural landmarks.
The Getty Center has unveiled fresh details about a sweeping modernization project that will shut down the famed hilltop museum for roughly a year beginning in March 2027, with a grand reopening planned ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics.
At the heart of the overhaul is a radical redesign of the museum’s entrance sequence — the first thing visitors encounter after arriving at the Brentwood campus.
According to planning documents and project renderings filed with the city on Wednesday, Gehry Partners, the architecture firm founded by legendary architect Frank Gehry, has been tapped to reimagine the arrival experience as the Getty’s tram station. The project aims to bring the Getty experience “down the hill,” transforming what planners describe as a largely utilitarian entry area into a more dramatic and welcoming gateway.
The biggest visual change though is a grand staircase wrapped beneath a transparent glass canopy that would create a striking new entrance to the tram station, where visitors begin their journey up to Richard Meier’s hilltop museum complex.
The redesign is expected to make navigating the museum easier for large groups, including the roughly 75,000 students who visit annually, while also helping to streamline traffic flow ahead of the massive influx of tourists expected during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The entrance makeover is just one piece of a massive campus-wide renovation that Getty officials have described as the most significant upgrade since the museum opened in 1997.
Plans also call for a revamped tram system, updated galleries, a renovated Welcome Hall, new retail and dining spaces, improved accessibility features, upgraded wayfinding, and major infrastructure improvements focused on sustainability and energy efficiency.
J. Paul Getty Trust President and CEO Katherine Fleming said the institution is entering “an exciting new chapter” as it prepares the campus for future generations of visitors.
The overall modernization project is expected to reportedly cost between $600 million and $800 million.
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