Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive finally reunited in gorgeous new digs

Built on the bones of an old factory and fitted with a modern body — its roof draped in stainless steel like a cape on a movie star’s shoulder — the new home of the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, or BAMPFA, is ready for a dramatic debut.

The shiny new structure — opening Jan. 31 with a free daylong open house — reunites the museum’s art and film holdings for the first time in years, expands its gallery space and film library with an open-air feel and high-tech interactive tools, increases cinematic programming with a state-of-the-art theater and is easily accessible from public transportation hubs.

Open to the public, BAMPFA is the university’s visual culture museum with a collection of more than 19,000 works of art, 16,000 films and housing a vast collection of cinema history, celebrating West Coast avant-garde film, international animation, Soviet cinema, early video art and the largest collection of Japanese films outside of Japan.

What’s more, it’s another cultural coup for Berkeley’s ever-expanding Addison Street arts corridor, joining anchors like Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Aurora Theatre, California Jazz Conservatory and Freight & Salvage.

“Now we’re right in the heart of the arts community,” BAMPFA Director Lawrence Rinder said during a recent hard-hat tour of the building, which spans the block on Oxford Street between Center Street and Addison at the west entrance to the Cal campus.

“We’re a thousand times more accessible, just two blocks from BART and bus lines,” he said. “Our collections and programs are an incredible resource for the local community and the world, and now it’s easier for people to discover what we have to offer.”

Jennifer Lovvorn, chair of Berkeley’s Civic Arts Commission, agrees the museum’s new home is a win-win for the institution and the arts district.

“When Berkeley was going through revitalization efforts of downtown, it was very strategic in using art and culture as a means to that end,” she said. “So Berkeley Art Museum’s move to this downtown location expands the arts district and creates an important cultural destination.”

In with the new

Indeed, the former building on Bancroft Way was not only off the beaten path — halfway up the hill next to the UC campus — but the innovative 1970 Mario Ciampi design was sometimes lovingly called an “artistic bunker” with its massive concrete slabs and awkwardly shaped galleries. When it was declared seismically unsafe in the late 1990s, bracing was put in place, and film screenings were moved to a building across the street. The idea for a new facility was proposed but delayed by the sluggish economic climate of the mid-2000s.

Now, with major Bay Area museum expansions on the horizon (San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art will reopen in May, doubling its previous size), the time was right for BAMPFA to proceed.

“Our former building, however great it was in so many ways, it was not transparent and welcoming,” Rinder said. “And while this new building is actually 20 percent smaller than our old space in terms of square footage, it’s far more usable space.” The old site saw about 75,000 visitors a year, and the hope is the numbers will greatly increase.

The new 83,000-square-foot structure is the visual opposite of the old site. Its three levels are open and bright. Large windows around the main entrance on Center Street were designed so passers-by can peek in and see rotating art displays on a central wall — the first will be from Chinese artist Qiu Zhijie. A 30-foot-wide exterior LED screen on the Addison side of the building will be a striking public presence, with potential for showing everything from digital art works to election debates and World Cup games, Rinder said.

The facility includes a total of 25,000 square feet of white-walled gallery space, to be filled with the first show titled “Architecture of Life,” presenting more than 250 works of art, architectural drawings and models made during the past 2,000 years. The museum also encompasses a spacious entryway amphitheater for music and lectures, the internationally-known film library — a collection of more than 250,000 films, books, scripts and ephemera related to cinematic history — an art-making lab for all ages, the 230-seat Barbro Osher Theater, plus another 33-seat screening room.

Designed by architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro — which also designed Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art, the High Line in New York City and The Broad in Los Angeles — the $112 million project was funded through a philanthropic capital campaign and private sources, Rinder said.

Reuse, repurpose

The new BAMPFA design incorporates parts of the old 1939 UC Berkeley printing plant, retaining much of its art déco feel and sawtooth roof line, then adding modern spaces — still with plenty of striking angles, some highlighted in chili-red or slate-gray colors, but designed with function in mind. Babette Cafe, which operated at the old BAMPFA site, will take its place on the upper level, overlooking the main entry.

City officials are also pleased with the repurposing of the old factory and the reclamation of several pine trees cut from the property — used by local master woodworker Paul Discoe to build shelving and seating in the new building.

“It’s really state-of-the-art reuse, turning a really useless decrepit building into a stellar work of art itself,” said Councilman Kriss Worthington. “(BAMPFA) is going to be a vital, powerful, significant element here, and when people see what a phenomenal success this is going to be, I expect to see even more arts groups are going to be part of this synergy.”

Follow Angela Hill at Twitter.com/GiveEmHill.