New construction images of the Renzo Piano-designed Academy Museum of Motion Pictures have emerged, which actor Tom Hanks revealed at the Oscars will open this year.
Located on Wilshire Boulevard, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures project comprises the renovation of the 1930s May Company Building, and a new glass sphere designed by the Italian architect's firm.

The images show the spherical addition nearing completion. It has a domed glass roof made of 1,500 flat, laminated, tempered, shingled glass panels that envelopes a basin made of steel and steel-reinforced-concrete.
The glass sheets are cut into 146 different shapes and sizes, and were fabricated in Steyr, Austria by Saint-Gobain.

The glass sphere will host a 1,000-seat theatre and a dome-covered terrace with views of the Hollywood Hills, while the majority of the exhibition and programming space will be housed in the 1930s May Company Building. The Academy of Motion Pictures has confirmed it will now turn to the interior renovation following the boost of nearly reaching the $388 million (ÂŁ299 million) target for the project.

"The Academy Museum recently announced that it has reached the 95 per cent mark in its $388 million pre-opening campaign, and installation of four floors of immersive, innovative exhibitions is now beginning," it said.
The updated May Company Building will be renamed the Saban Building after philanthropists Cheryl and Haim Saban, who donated $50 million (ÂŁ38 million) to the p...