Oakland Museum of California

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA), a historic mid-century modern­ist landmark designed by renowned architects Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo, contains excep­tional collections of art, science, and history. Its distinctive tiered landscape serves as a popular gathering space while also integrat­ing seamlessly with the building. In 2018, after completing a thorough renovation of its extraordinary brutalist building, refreshing galleries and educational spaces, the museum launched a campaign to renovate its campus, which is frequented by 400,000 individuals a year.

TIMELINE

2020     
The Oakland Museum of California and the Garden Conservancy begin a five-year partnership in support of the renovation of the museum’s campus.

2019     
OMCA breaks ground for new campus and gardens.

2018     
OMCA taps two award-winning firms for the renovation of its campus. The Oakland-based Hood Design Studio, headed by Walter Hood, former chair of landscape architecture at the University of Califor­nia at Berkeley, is engaged to revitalize the gardens, working with Mark Cavagnero & Associates, the architecture firm that handled the museum’s previous renovation in 2010 -12.

In July, the museum applies for preservation assistance from the Garden Conservancy.

2010-12
$63 million renovation of the museum’s galleries and educational facilities

1969     
OMCA opens, merging three existing museums (art, science, and history) to “tell the extraordinary story of California.” In a breakthrough combining museum and landscape design, architect Kevin Roche worked with landscape architect Dan Kiley to create an urban community campus, featuring a 24,600-square-foot, terraced roof garden that extends the museum’s exhibi­tion space and offers numerous spaces for public gatherings. Kiley engaged Geraldine Knight Scott, landscape architect and founder of the California Horticultural Society, to select the plantings for his modern-day “hanging gardens of Babylon.”

www.museumca.org