Dome

Cylindrical stone tower, fiberglass panels and roof structure; The Pavilion for Japanese Art is a part of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art containing the museum's collection of Japanese works that date from approximately 3000 BCE through the 20th century. Goff's last major work was the museum design for his longtime patron, Joe D. Price and his collection of Japanese art. Goff began in 1978 and worked on the design intermittently until his death. Before entering the embrace of LACMA, the pavilion was first designed to be built in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where Price had assembled his collection. Its spiraling composition of alcoves and cantilevered viewing platforms was realized posthumously by Goff's former student and trusted assistant, Bart Prince (born 1947) and completed in 1988 in Los Angeles, where Price had bequeathed his Shin'enkan Collection of more than 300 Japanese scroll and screen paintings. The building is notable for its translucent fiberglass panels, which allow paintings to be lit safely and naturally by soft sunlight. The effect approximates the original viewing conditions for these paintings and allows gold leaf to reflect. The pavilion also features a prow-shaped roof and cylindrical towers. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordartonline.com/ (accessed 7/19/2012)