U. of California at Berkeley Backs Away From Plans for a $143-Million Art Museum

The University of California at Berkeley has scrapped high-profile plans for a $143-million art museum by the Tokyo firm Toyo Ito & Associates Architects, the museum’s director said Wednesday. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the university canceled the project after raising only $81-million of the $200-million it sought in a capital campaign for the museum. But the museum’s director, Lawrence Rinder, said it would still build an “innovative and affordable” new museum at some point.

The Toyo Ito building, planned for a site in downtown Berkeley, was to have replaced museum’s current home, a poured-concrete Modernist structure on Bancroft Way that dates to 1970. Designed by Mario Ciampi and associates Richard L. Jorasch and Ronald E. Wagner, it was given a partial seismic retrofit in 2001 that allowed the museum portion of the facility to reopen. But the Pacific Film Archive, which shared the building, is still in temporary quarters elsewhere.

Toyo Ito was chosen to design the new museum after a lengthy selection process. Mr. Rinder left open the possibility that the university might still work with the firm on a cheaper building. “We love him, we love the design,” Mr. Rinder told the Contra Costa Times. “We’re just taking a step back to consider our position and how much we can hope to raise in the current environment.”