Located in the historic downtown area of this lush seaside community with views of the Santa Ynez Mountains in the distance, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art currently ranks amongst the top 10 regional art museums in the United States.

Since its founding in 1941, the museum has developed a unique identity with strengths in the following areas: Ancient Art, Asian Art (Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Tibetan), French and English 19th and early 20th Century Art, 19th and early 20th Century American Art, International Modernism, Works on Paper, Photography, and Contemporary Art. Influenced by the community as a whole and by individual collectors of major importance, the holdings of the museum have taken on a character specific to this institution.

MLA worked closely with Don Nulty of Warner & Gray Architects in Santa Barbara on the interior acoustics and noise control in the spaces. A particularly challenging room was a small lecture/recital hall located under one of the main galleries. The hard surface floors and restricted ceiling heights required a vibrationally isolated ceiling to separate footfall noise from the space above.