The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA), a historic mid-century modernist landmark designed by renowned architects Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo, contains exceptional collections of art, science, and history. Its distinctive tiered landscape serves as a popular gathering space while also integrating seamlessly with the building. In 2018, after completing a thorough renovation of its extraordinary brutalist building, refreshing galleries and educational spaces, the museum launched a campaign to renovate its campus, which is frequented by 400,000 individuals a year.

For more information, visit www.museumca.org.

Timeline

2020

The Oakland Museum of California and the Garden Conservancy begin a five-year partnership in support of the renovation of the museum's campus.

2019

OMCA breaks ground for new campus and gardens.

2018

OMCA taps two award-winning firms for the renovation of its campus. The Oakland-based Hood Design Studio, headed by Walter Hood, former chair of landscape architecture at the University of California at Berkeley, is engaged to revitalize the gardens, working with Mark Cavagnero & Associates, the architecture firm that handled the museum's previous renovation in 2010 -12.

In July, the museum applies for preservation assistance from the Garden Conservancy.

2010-12

$63 million renovation of the museum's galleries and educational facilities.

1969

OMCA opens, merging three existing museums (art, science, and history) to "tell the extraordinary story of California." In a breakthrough combining museum and landscape design, architect Kevin Roche worked with landscape architect Dan Kiley to create an urban community campus, featuring a 24,600-square-foot, terraced roof garden that extends the museum's exhibition space and offers numerous spaces for public gatherings. Kiley engaged Geraldine Knight Scott, landscape architect and founder of the California Horticultural Society, to select the plantings for his modern-day "hanging gardens of Babylon."