Michael Maltzan will design Hammer Museum’s expansion

The Hammer Museum has a new master plan.

Los Angeles architect Michael Maltzan announced plans to extend the recently upgraded museum into a large section of the tower above it. UCLA, which operates the museum as a charitable corporation, purchased the building at 10899 Wilshire Boulevard in 2015 for $92.5 million, after its former owner Occidental moved to Houston.

UCLA will occupy the top 11 stories of the building and the museum will take up the lower five floors, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Hammer will expand on the ground level to occupy the entirely of the floor with a larger lobby, a contemporary gallery in the space formerly occupied by City National Bank and a circular outdoor terrace.

A 4,300-square-foot museum shop and bookshop will open above the lobby. The third floor will feature a new gallery and study center, where the current museum store is located, as well as a classroom and new boardroom. Museum offices will take up the fourth and fifth floors.

The expansion will boost the exhibition square footage by 60 percent, according to the Times. But with 26,600 square feet of exhibition space, it still falls behind the 50,000-square-foot Broad Museum and the 68,000-square-foot LACMA — the latter of which is slated to get its own renovation.

Hammer has not disclosed the expected cost of the expansion. It hopes to finish the project by 2020. [LAT] — Subrina Hudson