The Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA), designed by Morphosis, officially opened its doors on October 8, 2022. The 24-hour opening celebration attracted around 10,000 visitors who enjoyed art and participated in various museum events.
Founded in 1962, the Orange County Museum of Art is a renowned modern and contemporary art institution in California. Its mission is to enrich and inspire diverse communities through the power of modern and contemporary art. The new museum is situated within the emerging art park at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California, completing the cultural landscape of the center.
To commemorate this milestone, the museum launched five special exhibitions highlighting its 60-year history and its vision to advance its public mission. These exhibitions include the 2022 California Biennial “Pacific Gold,” “13 WOMEN” — a group exhibition featuring 13 female founders at OCMA, a 50th anniversary retrospective of artist Fred Eversley titled “Reflecting Back (the World),” a commissioned sculpture by Sanford Biggers called “Of many waters…,” and a design exhibition by landscape architect Peter Walker titled “Peter Walker: Minimalist Landscape.”
Architectural Design
The design of the Orange County Museum of Art introduces a new museum model centered on the public, the city, and shared spaces, fostering a seamless connection between indoor and outdoor environments. As Morphosis’s first completed art museum, its opening marks a significant milestone for the firm. — Thom Mayne, Founder of Morphosis
In the post-pandemic era, museums must evolve into vibrant public cultural spaces.
Morphosis designed flexible exhibition areas, dedicated educational facilities, and both indoor and outdoor public spaces to broaden the museum’s cultural impact within the Costa Mesa community. Prioritizing public and educational spaces, the architecture balances spatial flexibility and functionality, creating an engaging and memorable artistic landmark.
The new museum spans approximately 4,900 square meters, with exhibition space covering about 2,300 square meters—roughly 50% larger than the previous location in Newport Beach. This expansion allows for large-scale installations and major special exhibitions. Public areas total around 900 square meters and support educational programs, performances, gatherings, administrative offices, a museum shop, rooftop terraces, cafes, and more.
Our design fully embraces Southern California’s climate and natural environment, emphasizing a strong connection between indoor and outdoor spaces. As the final building in the Segerstrom Art Center, it was essential to create a structure that carefully integrates with its surroundings while establishing a commanding presence as an art museum. — Brandon Welling, OCMA Design Director and Morphosis Partner
01 Roof Terrace
The building’s most striking feature is its expansive rooftop terrace, which covers 70% of the total building area.
This terrace serves multiple purposes: it extends the exhibition space as a sculpture garden or outdoor installation area, doubles as a public space hosting open-air cinema and cultural events, and integrates seamlessly with the museum’s main circulation, becoming a vibrant social hub.
02 Outdoor Staircase
A grand outdoor staircase curves towards the museum’s entrance, paying homage to the iconic steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This staircase has become a key public gathering spot, linking the Orange County Museum of Art with the Julianne and George Argyros Plaza and the nearby Performing Arts Center. This creates a lively outdoor space that naturally attracts visitors.
03 Performance and Education Hall
The performance and education hall serves as the heart of the museum’s public space, perched above the bright and soaring entrance atrium to create a dynamic and inspiring atmosphere.
Large French windows flood the interior with natural light and provide views over the roof terrace and outdoor staircase, enhancing the connection with the outdoors.
04 Exhibition Space
The primary exhibition areas are designed to be flexible and interconnected rather than isolated.
Permanent galleries, open temporary spaces, art shops, mezzanine galleries, and storefront exhibition spaces along the street offer versatile platforms for showcasing a wide range of art in various media and scales. The storefront galleries invite passersby to engage with the art from the sidewalk or plaza.
05 Facade Design
The building’s light-colored facade features glazed ceramic panels and glass, harmonizing with the form and tone of neighboring structures.
Rectangular white ceramic panels with grooves form continuous strips, creating flowing facade lines that blur the boundaries between interior and exterior. Glass curtain walls act as a transparent medium, allowing glimpses of indoor art and activities from outside, while also offering views of the surrounding art center landscape.
Additionally, the ceramic panel facade functions as a custom rain curtain system, blending craftsmanship with computational design to produce unique, complex architectural curves.
06 Visitor Experience
The museum carefully orchestrates a rich and varied visitor journey—from approaching the building to entering, exploring exhibitions, browsing museum shops, resting in staircases or cafes—inviting continuous circulation and discovery.
The architectural form evolves throughout this journey, transitioning from the captivating and refined entrance lobby to the linear and orderly exhibition halls. This dynamic interplay creates a harmonious balance between formal and informal artistic environments.
The seamless integration of indoor and outdoor spaces allows visitors to fully enjoy the natural light, fresh air, and spatial openness, immersing themselves in this vibrant Southern California cultural landmark.
Project Drawings
△ Model diagram
△ Model diagram
△ Model diagram
△ Model diagram
△ Base schematic diagram
△ First floor plan
△ First floor plan
△ Second floor plan
△ Elevation drawing
△ Elevation drawing
△ Elevation drawing
△ Elevation drawing
△ Section diagram
△ Section diagram
△ Analysis chart
△ Analysis chart
△ Analysis chart
△ Analysis chart
Project Information
Location: Costa Mesa, California, USA
Owner: Orange County Museum of Art
Site Area: 0.68 hectares
Building Area: 4,924 square meters (with approximately 2,322 square meters of exhibition space); Roof terrace area: 987 square meters
Project Type: Cultural Architecture
Building Use: Museum including exhibition halls, multifunctional educational spaces, rooftop terraces, activity areas, cultural and creative shops, cafes, administrative and support spaces
Design Period: 2015–2019
Construction Period: 2019–2022
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