The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has opened a new 45,000sq ft pavilion.

The Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion, a key feature of LACMA's ongoing Transformation campaign, expands the museum's exhibition space and also unifies the western half of the museum's 20-acre campus.

The building - designed by Rezno Piano - is named in honour of long-time patrons Lynda and Stewart Resnick, whose US$45m donation was the lead gift in Phase II of Transformation campaign. The Resnicks' have also promised to donate works of art valued at US$10m.

LACMA CEO Michael Govan said: "Lynda and Stewart Resnick have been true champions of LACMA, demonstrated most visibly by their boundless generosity in supporting the creation of the Renzo Piano-designed exhibition pavilion which bears their names.

"The facility is unlike almost any in the world, improving and expanding LACMA's exhibition galleries, while freeing up space to show more of our permanent collection."

The museum has opened with a trio of exhibitions: Eye for the Sensual: Selections from the Resnick Collection; Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico; and Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700-1915.