A LACMA architectural overview

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences plans to open a sprawling film museum in LACMA’s old May Co. building, a 1939 landmark of Streamline Moderne architecture by Albert C. Martin. (Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times)

March 19, 2014 4:58 PM PT

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, with its architecturally varying sections, seems to be a mirror of Southern California urbanism.

Renzo Pianos Resnick Pavilion is the most recent addition to LACMAs architectural mix. (Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times)

The Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA was designed by Renzo Piano. (Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times)

With the leasing of the old May Co. building to AMPAS, LACMA has abandoned its plans to renovate the site for its own purposes. (Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times)

Stairs lead down to the Sculpture Garden at LACMA. (Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times)

“Penetrable” by Jesus Rafael Soto, outside the Ahmanson building, is made of painted iron, aluminum and plastic hoses, which guests can walk through. (Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times)

The museums annual attendance in 2010 was just more than 900,000. (Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times)

Serena Slomovic, 15, poses for a portrait at the “Urban Light” installation by Chris Burden. (Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times)

The Resnick Exhibition Pavilion is the second gallery building on the LACMA campus designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano. (Anne Cusack/Los Angeles Times)