Donation to aid with Arts Center renovation
By Daily Bruin Staff
Sept. 24, 2000 9:00 p.m.
 UCLA’s School of Arts and Architecture Eli
Broad, Chairman and CEO of Sun America Inc., is
contributing to a new arts complex at UCLA.
By Michael Rosen-Molina
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Dickson Arts Center has served the campus well these last few
decades, but it’s finally time to say goodbye. Besides being
severely damaged in the Northridge earthquake, the long-time home
of the arts department no longer meets the needs of today’s
modern art student.
To remedy the problem, Chancellor Albert Carnesale announced
plans for a completely renovated art center to replace the
crumbling Dickson. Construction on the $40 million Broad Art Center
will commence in 2002 on the present site of the Dickson Arts
Center.
The project is supported by a donation of $20 million by
SunAmerica Inc. chairman and arts patron Eli Broad.
“Eli and Edye Broad’s magnificent gift will secure
UCLA’s place at the forefront of the arts,” said
Carnesale. “As a dynamic training ground for the cultural
leaders of the 21st century, the Broad Art Center will markedly
enrich the creative life of UCLA, the greater Los Angeles region
and beyond.”
 UCLA Urban Simulation Team Shown here is a frame capture
from the virtual reality model of the Edythe and Eli Broad Art
Center at UCLA. Radical reconstruction of the existing Dickson Art
Center will begin in 2002. Carnesale emphasized the need for a new
arts complex after the damage done to Dickson in the Northridge
earthquake.
“It’s seismically compromised,” said
Carnesale, jokingly, “which is a fancy way of saying that it
might fall down.”
Broad cited a high regard for UCLA’s arts program as well
as his deep commitment to Los Angeles as reasons for his
donation.
“Yale accepts one out of every 15 applicants, and Harvard
School of Business accepts one out of 10,” said Broad,
“but UCLA Arts and Architectural School only accepts one out
of every 32 applicants. Its competitiveness is good evidence of the
program’s quality.”
The conference projected a vision of Los Angeles as the
“New Capital of the Next Millennium.”
“Los Angeles has the second largest population of artists
in the country,” said Broad of the city’s cultural
accomplishments. “We’ve got more musicians in L.A. than
in New York.”
Broad’s involvement with UCLA extends back to 1971, when
he worked as the founding chairman of the executive committee of
the Board of Visitors of the UCLA School of the Arts and
Architecture. In addition, he has served on the board of directors
for the UCLA Hammer Museum, and stood on the Visiting Committee of
the UCLA Graduate School of Management.
“Rather than just patching up the old building, we could
create a new and better building,” Broad said. “The old
Dickson complex was 35 years old, and not very functional, even
before the earthquake. This is something new and
well-deserved.”
Outside of UCLA, his contributions to the arts are exceptional
““ Broad was the founding chairman of the board of trustees at
The Museum of Contemporary Art. Outside the art world, Broad led
the campaign to bring the 2000 Democratic National Convention to
Los Angeles.
Broad is a busy man. His daytime job is chairman and chief
executive officer of SunAmerica Inc., a financial planning company
that specializes in retirement services.
Although not involved in the selection process, Broad professed
great admiration for the work of architects Richard Meier and
Michael Palladino, the UCLA commissioned architectural firm who is
designing the Broad Art Center
“I’ve seen their work around the world,” said
Broad. “I liked their design Museum for Decorative Arts in
Frankfurt.”
The firm’s projects are recognized by others around the
world as well, including the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and an
18-story medical office tower in Singapore. Meier became the
youngest architect ever to receive the Pritzker Prize for
Architecture in 1984, while Palladino received the prestigious Rome
Prize for the year 2000-2001.
The plans for the Broad Art Center call for the existing
structural frame of the Dickson Arts Center to be stripped, and its
structural frame used as the basis for the new building.
“Reusing the existing frame was the most cost-effective
way to do this,” said Palladino. “Radical
reconstruction is a strategy sure to become more popular as more
buildings from the ’50s and ’60s need to be
renovated.”
The Broad Arts Complex will add another floor to the old Dickson
building, increasing the amount of usable space by 12,800 square
feet.
A system of filters currently allows natural sunlight to
illuminate the building’s interior, which is being redesigned
with a loft-like theme. The new floor plan will additionally divide
the space into open-ended studios better suited for artistic
practice.
“This flexible floor plan gives faculty and students the
ability to plan and organize space,” said Palladino.
“Instead of trying to predict how faculty will teach in, say,
2010, we’ve left them that decision.”
An outdoor walkway through the base of the building will also
facilitate easy access to the campus from parking lots.
“The dead-end courtyard will be replaced by a series of
terraces,” Palladino said. “We will connect the old
circulation path that currently runs from Franz and dead-ends at
Dickson with Parking Structure 3 behind the building.”
While the through-way will facilitate entry to campus, it will
encourage new visitors besides just students and faculty. A new
coffee cafe with outdoor seating on the plaza will be added in
hopes of bringing guests from the general public in addition to
those affiliated with UCLA.
Although public spectacle influenced the design, the needs of
the students and faculty concerned the developers from the
beginning.
“We spent many hours talking with faculty, students, and
administrators, people who would actually be working in the
building, all working together to get a program together,”
Broad said.
“Back in the days of (Chancellor) Young, we talked about
wanting to do something for the arts at UCLA,” Broad said.
“We needed time to work through the finances; we’ve
refined the plans to serve the needs of the university for the
decades to come.”
