ucla hammer museum: billy wilder theater

Location:  Los Angeles, California
Date:  2004-2006
Type: cultural
Firm:  Michael Maltzan Architecture
Role:  Project Architect  [Ed Ogosta]

Award:
AIA LA Design Citation Award 2007

Publications:
Architectural Record, November 2007
Architectural Lighting,  March 2007

Project Description:
This extensive interior renovation to the Billy Wilder Theater was conceived as a jewel to be discovered deep within the UCLA Hammer Museum. The $5 million overhaul consisted of a new 265-seat auditorium for the UCLA Film & Television Archive, lobby spaces, restrooms, and ticketbooth. Linear LED lighting projecting from the ceiling and walls provides a dynamic, vertiginous experience that acts as a subtle referent to Hollywood movie houses of the early 20th century. Capable of projecting every type of film stock, including highly flammable Nitrate film, the theater is one of only two in the city where archival films can be viewed in their original format.