Ray Huff and Mario Gooden, both AIA, of New York-based Huff + Gooden Architects have been chosen as lead design architects for the $67.3 million expansion and renovation of the California African American Museum, located in Los Angeles’s Exposition Park. Designed by African American architects Jack Haywood and Vince Proby, the museum opened its current building during the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. The renovation will add 77,000 square feet of new space and renovate 26,000 square feet of the existing structure. HGA has been chosen as the executive architect; the firm, based in Minneapolis, will oversee museum planning, project management, construction documents, and construction administration. An integral part of the redesign will be the museum’s Word Wall, a backlit glass scrim wrapped around the building, which is reflective during the day and illuminated at night. The expansion and renovation will accommodate a museum store and café, a black-box theater, educational-programming space, and both new and renovated galleries. The museum is one of many in Exposition Park, which is also home to the California Science Center, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
