At a ceremony on September 20, the Orange County Museum of Art broke ground on its new campus at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa.

The $73-million facility, designed by Morphosis, will feature 25,000 square feet of permanent exhibition space a nearly 50 percent increase from its original home.  Plans also call for 10,000 square feet of multipurpose space and a rooftop sculpture terrace capable of hosting events with up to 1,000 people.  

Other features will include a gift shop, administrative offices, and a cafe.

“We are so incredibly grateful to our donors for allowing us to take this important step towards realizing a new home for the Orange County Museum of Art at Segerstrom Center for the Arts," said OCMA Director and Chief Executive Officer Todd D. Smith. "The breathtaking design by Morphosis will undoubtedly support our mission of enriching the lives of a diverse and changing community through innovative and thought-provoking presentations of modern and contemporary art."

The centerpiece of OCMA's new campus will be a grand staircase, connecting the Segerstrom Center's Argyos Plaza with the elevated sculpture terrace.

“The location within the Segerstrom Arts complex, combined with OCMA’s focus on public programming, led us to develop a new architectural idea—a model for museums as part gallery space, part public plaza—which emphasizes their role as urban connective tissue rather than as iconic, stand-alone objects,” said Thom Mayne of Morphosis.

Besides the roof terrace and staircase, other architectural features of the new OCMA will include mezzanine and street-front galleries, capable of accommodating temporary and permanent collection exhibitions.  The building will also feature a soaring lobby and atrium, illuminated by a window which overlooks the roof terrace.

Construction of the new museum will take more than a year.  General contractor Clark Construction expects to complete the facility in 2021.

To date, OCMA has raised $47 million for the construction of the new museum.

OCMA, which closed its original home in Newport Beach last year, is currently operating out of a temporary home at 1661 W. Sunflower Avenue in Santa Ana.

Morphosis was recently tapped to design another Southern California museum - the Korean American National Museum in Los Angeles.