Downtown Los Angeles is getting ready for a bigger, bolder Broad. On Wednesday, the museum will hit a key construction milestone when crews hoist the final steel beam onto the roof of its expansion, effectively capping the new structure and shifting the $100 million project into its next phase of interior and systems work. Museum leaders say the addition is designed to significantly expand public access to the Broad’s contemporary collection ahead of the 2028 Summer Games.
The morning starts early with a ceremonial beam signing at 8 a.m., followed by a crane placing the last steel piece into position. Scheduled speakers include Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado and the Broad’s founding director Joanne Heyler, according to MyNewsLA. The brief event is expected to draw civic leaders, museum staff and the construction team before regular work on site resumes.
The expansion will add roughly 50,000 square feet of new construction and boost gallery space by about 70 percent, creating room to show a far larger slice of the collection and to introduce “vault-view” exhibition areas where visitors can see art storage racks, according to The Broad. Plans also call for top-floor outdoor courtyards and flexible live-programming spaces that can host performances and educational events. Museum leadership frames the project as an extension of the Broad’s free-admission model, meant to get more contemporary art in front of more Angelenos and visitors.
Design keeps the original veil and vault idea
Architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro, which designed the original Broad building, has returned to handle the expansion. The addition inverts the museum’s signature veil-and-vault concept, making the vault more visible while preserving existing circulation patterns, as reported by Architectural Record. The firm says the new volume is intended as a companion to the current museum, with more intimate gallery sequences and additional public spaces that connect directly to Grand Avenue.
Where construction stands
Steel framing is already climbing along the Hope Street edge of the site, and crews have been steadily installing structural members as the project approaches its topping-out moment, according to Urbanize LA. Local business reporting has pegged the expansion at roughly $100 million and about 50,000 to 55,000 square feet, with an opening scheduled before the 2028 Olympics, per L.A. Business First. The build-out is part of a broader push to keep Grand Avenue buzzing with cultural programming and transit-friendly public space.
The museum broke ground in April 2025 and plans to keep its existing galleries open throughout construction, with the new building set to debut in time for the 2028 Summer Games and general admission remaining free, according to The Broad. The project also includes a new plaza named for Supervisor Hilda Solis that organizers say will improve the link between the Grand Avenue Arts/Bunker Hill Metro entrance and the museum corridor. As interior work and exhibition planning ramp up, visitors can expect more programming and public-facing previews of what the larger Broad will offer.
