La Brea Tar Pits and Museum Master Plan

The La Brea Tar Pits and Page Museum are sites of exploration and an enduring source of wonder. Our proposed reimagination of the park and museum emerges from a close analysis of what is present, inspiring a commitment to preserve and magnify the park, tar pits, and museum as an ever-changing site of discovery. The design titled La Brea Loops and Lenses forms a triple mobius linking all formerly disconnected elements of the park into a unified whole. This triple mobius redefines Hancock Park as a continuously unfolding experience, connecting three distinguishing identities that are latent within the park today: Research and Revelation – the site of the excavation pits and Pleistocene Garden, Community and Culture – where the Page museum and central green are located, and Spectacle and Urban Fictions – where the lake pit and sculptural mastodons join the public imagination on Wilshire Boulevard. These different identities of the loops embody journeys, with programming that appeals to diverse constituencies—from paleontology to bird watching, from science to play. The triple loop updates the 1-kilometer pedestrian experience that connects the rich yet disparate existing elements of the site, brings drama to the crossing of the Lake Pit, frames views into the museum, enhances amenities for community engagement and research, and reveals the riches found in the tar pits and museum. As a vibrant public park, active exploration is complemented with lookout platforms along the loop to provide more intimate spaces for reflection. Students and curious adults can observe excavation and research in action. The Page Museum rejuvenation and expansion is located strategically on the triple loop. Its design is rooted in the analysis of the existing building, preserving and magnifying the museum’s unique strengths. The renovation and expansion are conceived as a contemporary Wunderkammer, a treasure chest of stunning fossils and artifacts, both large and microscopic. Like a magnifying glass, exhibition spaces bring artifacts into focus and make visible the museum's treasures to the public. Framed views throughout the park and museum bring into alignment the research and museum collection that contains over 3.5 million specimens. As flexible armatures, Loops and Lenses connect and reveal, forming a continuous journey that tells the story of La Brea Tar Pits and Museum: the continuum from prehistoric time to our contemporary moment. The museum treasures will be revealed to visitors, bringing the museum into the park, and the park into the public imagination.