Getty Center Unveils $600 Million to $800 Million Renovation Plan Focused on Arrival Experience
The Getty Center is preparing for a sweeping campus renovation that will reshape how visitors reach its hilltop site above Brentwood. Preliminary plans released this week point to parking upgrades, a redesigned welcome center, a new tram, and a reworked arrival sequence intended to make the ascent feel less abrupt and more legible.
The most visible changes will begin at the lower tram stop, where Gehry Partners, the firm founded by the late architect Frank Gehry, will design a new green space and sheltered stairway. The intervention is meant to create a more hospitable waiting area for visitors before they board the tram to the museum campus.
The tram itself will also be replaced. Austrian ski-lift manufacturer Doppelmayr has been selected to design the new system, which is expected to give passengers more room inside, even if the renderings suggest seating may be reduced. Since the Getty opened in 1997, the tram has been one of the defining elements of the visitor experience, carrying guests from the parking structure up to the museum complex.
At the top of the hill, Why Architecture will design a new welcome hall that includes an expanded bookstore and a new café. The firm is also behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s overhauled Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, among other museum projects, giving the Getty a designer with substantial institutional experience.
The full project is estimated to cost between $600 million and $800 million. In a statement, Tim Whalen, director of the Getty Conservation Institute and vice president of institutional planning at the J. Paul Getty Trust, said the program will strengthen the site’s sustainability and accessibility while improving “the quality, comfort and depth” of the visitor experience.
The Getty Center will close to the public on March 15, 2027, for one year and is scheduled to reopen in time for the 2028 Summer Olympics. During the closure, Getty plans to continue working with partners in Los Angeles and beyond, while also expanding programming at the Getty Villa. The renovation places the institution’s physical infrastructure at the center of its next chapter, with access, comfort, and stewardship now as prominent as the art itself.
