NHM Commons, the recently completed addition to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County by Frederick Fisher and Partners, is now one of the quietest architectural expressions in Exposition Park, a 160-acre cultural campus that, as Alissa Walker recently noted, will be a centerpiece of the 2028 Olympics. A straightforward glass structure set beneath a faintly undulating metal scrim, the 75,000-square-foot designappears far less hungry for attention than, say, Frank Gehrys California Aerospace Museum on the opposite side of the park, or the fortress-like Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum plonked at its center. Sited across from the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, MAD Architectures extraterrestrial design expected to open by the end of next year, NHM Commons may even be experienced as less of an architectural statement than a mere extension of the park floor.Glass and natural light are integral to the design of the NHM Commons lobby. ( Benny Chan/Courtesy Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County)That is because, when its glass doors are swung open, NHM Commons adds a crucial fourth entrance to a museum at its southwest that was previously a collage of civic architectural styles more formidable than inviting. The east entrance, an imposing Beaux Arts composition completed in 1913, centers on a geometrically precise rose garden, while the blank midcentury wall of the south entrance seems to drive visitors away. The Otis Booth Pavilion that marks the north entrance, an Apple Storelike cube displaying a suspended whale skeleton from its ceiling, can only be reached by crossing a suspended bridge. NHM Commons is a significant departure from the museums former attempts at signaling to the public that it is, in fact, their museum. This type of unambiguous messaging especially matters for a city-funded cultural institution in south Los Angeles, a portion of the city that has historically experienced its share of harm from urban development. Fred Fisher, founding partner of Frederick Fisher and Partners, said: Our philosophy from the start was that the building itself is not the content, but rather a framework to allow NHM and the community to make it their own.Around the addition are native plants, the landscape scheme was designed by Studio-MLA. ( Benny Chan/Courtesy Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County)The singular gesture from the very beginning was to connect the new museum commons and entry to its surrounding context of Exposition Park, and let the park flow into the museum, Fisher said. Speakers during the opening ceremony frequently alluded to the addition as a new front porcha design concept made explicit by the inclusion of Spanish steps and a smattering of native plants provided by landscape architecture firm Studio-MLA. The new addition, completed to the tune of $75 million, is open to the public without the cost of admission, meaning that the average wanderer can now see plenty without making a financial commitment to the dinos and dioramas beyond. Walk past the cafe and theatre on the ground floor, which will no doubt draw visitors in on overly hot or rainy days, and youll find a public restrooma true rarity in Exposition Park, let alone Los Angeles!A large theater is located inside the museum ( Benny Chan/Courtesy Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County)The complimentary offerings continue up the escalator, from which a panorama comes into focus of Exposition Park. (This view is presently made unremarkable by a large patchy lawn that will, no doubt, be updated before the Olympics commence). At the top is the Judith Perlstein Welcome Center, a long room filled with piecemeal architectural flourishes responding to its permanent installations. A look at the Judith Perlstein Welcome Center ( Benny Chan/Courtesy Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County)On one side is Gnatalie, a green sauropod skeletal mount foregrounding a wall of wooden slats that continue the undulating motif from the facade indoors to suggest a recently unearthed excavation. On the other is Barbara Carrascos L.A. History: A Mexican Perspective (1981), an 80-foot composition of locally significant figures and events (including everything from the 1932 Olympic Games to Rick James), which benefits greatly from digital touchscreens that encourage visitors to pull even more information from an already jam-packed mural.Gnatalie, the green dinosaur presides on a white plinth. ( Benny Chan/Courtesy Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County)Though the only thing in common between the mural and the dinosaur is their length, they nonetheless form a memorable entryway to the ticketed portion of the museum, from which the heavy old wood and marble of the original structure is faintly visible.Shane Reiner-Roth curates images of the built environment on the Instagram page @everyverything.