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University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) in Berkeley’s downtown arts district will get a new arts centre, which is designed by the New York City–based firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R).

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Designed to provide UC Berkeley and the city of Berkeley a world-class visual arts centre, the planned facility will unite a building that previously housed the UC Berkeley printing plant at the corner of Center and Oxford streets with a new structure that will anchor the corner of Oxford and Addison streets.

Exhibiting a bold new architectural form as well beauty and accessibility, the new building will house BAM/PFA’s exhibition galleries, learning centre, participatory art-making studio, works-on-paper study centre, store, cafe, and offices.

Apart from that it will also reunite the institution’s film theatre, moved to an annex structure on Bancroft Way in 1999, with the galleries and operations areas. The centre will also accommodate a 230-seat theatre and a 32-seat screening room, as well as a film library and study area.

Supervised by Plant Construction Company, the early phases of construction focus on interior work in the existing building, including salvaging reusable materials and preparing for the demolition of the adjacent parking structure.

EHDD of San Francisco is the architect of record for the project.

Founded in 1963, the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) is UC Berkeley’s primary visual arts venue and among the largest university art museums in terms of size and audience in the US.

Construction is scheduled for completion in summer 2015 with the new arts centre opening to the public in early 2016.