Redesigning a Car Museum to Be Less Car-Like

The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles was built into a 1960s department store, and in the 90s the facade was fashioned to look like the grill of a vintage car. With new funds in hand, the museum wants something more "attention-grabbing".

1 minute read

April 29, 2011, 7:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur


Blogger William Poundstone thinks the museum is already attention-grabbing, calling it programmatic architecture at its most obvious:

"I can't imagine how the Petersen museum could be less subtle."

The Los Angeles Times has the original story, where museum director Buddy Pepp says he plans to use some of the funds to redo the facade:

"...the aim is to thoroughly refurbish the interior and augment the exterior to achieve a more eye-grabbing presence on Wilshire in hopes of drawing passersby who Pepp said may not be aware that the building houses a major automotive museum."

Wednesday, April 27, 2011 in Los Angeles County Museum on Fire

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