<P> In 2008, BAM / PFA unveiled plans for a new visual arts center, to be designed by the Japanese architect Toyo Ito and located in downtown Berkeley, across the street from UC Berkeley's main entrance . However, in 2009, those plans were cancelled . Citing the weak economy and trouble raising the necessary funds, BAM / PFA decided to retrofit and enlarge the former University of California Press printing plant at that site, a 1939 Art Deco building on the California Register of Historic Resources and qualified to be on the National Register of Historic Places . </P> <P> In 2011, BAM / PFA presented the schematic design for the $100 million transformation of a former printing plant into its new home, designed by the New York firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro . Located at 2120 Oxford Street in Berkeley's arts district, the design combines the existing 1939 concrete Art Deco - style building, unoccupied since 2004, with a new metal - clad, skylighted structure that will include galleries, a 32 - seat screening room, a store and a learning center . Construction began in 2013 and the building was expected to be completed in 2015 and opened to the public in 2016 . It opened to the public on January 31, 2016 . </P>

Berkeley museum of art and pacific film archive