Director and Architect Re-imagine Los Angeles Museum

A proposal to remake the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)—including replacing half of its eight buildings with glass-walled galleries—is expected to ignite public debate on the plan and its vision for 21st-century art museums, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The design—work led by LACMA director Michael Govan and Swiss architect Peter Zumthor—will go on display June 9. It follows other Govan efforts to “open” the museum to the public, including culturally current displays on Tim Burton and Stanley Kubrick, as well as hands-on outdoor installations on the museum’s 22-acre grounds.

The redesign plan is one of a string of proposals Mr. Govan has made to change the museum. A similar LACMA plan failed in 2001. Mr. Govan is also proposing that LACMA acquire the struggling Museum of Contemporary Art, which would create one of the country’s largest contemporary art collections.

“My whole career has been about the intersection between art, architecture, and space,” said Mr. Govan, LACMA’s director since 2006.