Reimagining La Brea Tar Pits: Architecture Bridging Science and the Urban Landscape

American architecture studio Weiss/Manfredi has released updated designs for the reimagined La Brea Tar Pits campus in Los Angeles, a project that reorganises and expands one of the world’s most unique scientific sites. Spanning 13 acres, the site wraps around the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and is considered the only active palaeontological research site located within a major urban centre.

An architectural rendering showing a modern museum building with a sweeping, curved concrete roof and a glass-walled entrance. Diverse groups of people, including families and children, are walking along a gravel plaza and a grassy lawn in front of the museum. — The Weiss/Manfredi design for the La Brea Tar Pits features a continuous pedestrian loop and transparent facades to showcase paleontological history.

Design Rooted in What Exists

First announced in 2019, the project is led by Weiss/Manfredi, with Gruen Associates as landscape architect and Kossmann DeJong designing the exhibitions. The team explains that the design emerged from a close analysis of existing conditions, rather than imposing a disconnected architectural gesture.

An architectural rendering of a modern, curved walkway and lush green park at the La Brea Tar Pits, featuring people walking and relaxing near a large building with a detailed fossil-relief facade under a bright blue sky. — The “La Brea Loops and Lenses” design update by Weiss/Manfredi features a continuous pedestrian path and expanded green space to better connect the museum with Hancock Park.

An Inside-Outside Museum

The masterplan reimagines the Page Museum, active excavation zones, and Hancock Park as a single, integrated campus functioning as an inside-out museum, closely tied to the surrounding landscape and neighbourhood.

A wide architectural rendering of a sunny park with green lawns and scattered trees, where many people and children are playing and walking along curved paths that lead toward a long, modern museum building in the distance. — The “Weiss/Manfredi” master plan reimagines the La Brea Tar Pits as a unified campus, blending research, education, and community recreation within a sprawling urban park.

A Semi-Submerged Research Annexe

A key addition is the Samuel Oschin Global Centre for Ice Age Research, a semi-subterranean exhibition and research building that extends the Page Museum’s underground architecture. Renderings reveal a curved glass façade set beneath a circular earth berm, wrapping around the museum’s bas-relief-clad base.

An aerial architectural rendering of a modern circular park pavilion at La Brea Tar Pits, featuring a large grassy oval surrounded by walking paths and people, with the Los Angeles skyline and mountains in the background at sunset. — A vibrant rendering of the proposed “Loops and Lens” design for the La Brea Tar Pits, showcasing a new pedestrian walkway that integrates the museum with the surrounding Hancock Park landscape.

Movement as Organising Principle

Central to the proposal is the “Loops and Lenses” concept, with a network of circular and branching pathways reorganising pedestrian movement across the site. One elevated path passes over the glass façade, leading visitors into a covered pavilion entrance, while other loops connect the site’s various elements.

A high-angle aerial rendering of the La Brea Tar Pits park and museum complex, showing the "Loops and Lens" path connecting the Lake Pit, a central circular lawn, and the George C. Page Museum building amidst a dense urban neighborhood. — An expansive aerial view of the Weiss/Manfredi master plan, illustrating how the proposed pedestrian loops weave together the prehistoric Lake Pit, the museum facilities, and the surrounding community of Los Angeles.

Reframing the Visitor Experience

Although meandering paths already exist, the redesign aims to streamline circulation and introduce new features such as an outdoor amphitheatre and open-air exhibition zones. According to the team, this marks the site’s first comprehensive reconsideration since its opening in 1977.

A Forward Look for Architects

For architects, the La Brea Tar Pits project offers a compelling case study in designing scientific and cultural infrastructure within dense urban contexts. It highlights how circulation, landscape, and architecture can work together to support research, education, and public engagement. With completion targeted ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, the project may serve as a reference for future developments that integrate architecture, science, and public space.

2021 Lyceum Fellowship: Reimagining the Visitor Experience – The Ames Estate

ينضم مصممو المعرض Kossmanndejong إلى Weiss / Manfredi لإصلاح حفر La Brea Tar في لوس أنجلوس

✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight

The La Brea Tar Pits campus redesign in Los Angeles exemplifies Contemporary site-responsive architecture, integrating scientific research, public engagement, and landscape into a cohesive urban-cultural infrastructure. The scheme leverages flexible spatial strategies and subtle Material Expression, including semi-submerged volumes, curved glass façades, and earth-formed berms, reinforcing the dialogue between building and site. However, the project’s intricate circulation system, framed by the “Loops and Lenses” concept, raises questions about Functional Resilience and whether visitor flow can coexist with active palaeontological operations without compromising research integrity. Conversely, by fusing inside-out museum principles with urban context, the design enhances Contextual Relevance and spatial legibility. Ultimately, the project underscores an Architectural Ambition to redefine how cultural, scientific, and public realms intersect within a dense city fabric.

Reviewer

★ ArchUp Technical Analysis

Technical Analysis of the La Brea Tar Pits Campus Redevelopment Project in Los Angeles:
This article provides a technical analysis of the La Brea Tar Pits campus redevelopment project, serving as a case study in integrating research facilities with public urban space.

Scope and Architectural Design:
The site spans 13 acres, surrounding the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The design includes the addition of the Samuel Oschin Global Centre for Ice Age Research, a semi-submerged research and exhibition center with a curved glass façade covering approximately 65% of the southern elevation.

Circulation Plan and Functional Performance:
The circulation plan is based on the concept of “Loops and Lenses,” creating circular, interwoven pedestrian pathways. One pathway leads over the curved glass façade to a covered entrance, providing a 100% continuous visual connection. The project transforms the site into an integrated “open-air museum,” with completion targeted before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Related Insight: Please review this article for an in-depth exploration of architecture integrated with archaeological sites:
Designing Museums on Historical Sites: Between Preservation and Modern Display