Eames Design Museum Plans Revealed at ’60s-Era Warehouse in SF Bay Area

Summary

• The Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity announced plans for a new Eames Design Museum in Novato, California, a collaboration with Herzog & De Meuron and EHDD that will preserve and repurpose a historic 1960s-era warehouse to house the Eames Collection archives and host cultural programming.

The Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity has unveiled the early plans for a new Eames Design Museum located in Novato, California, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. A collaboration between Swiss firm Herzog & De Meuron and SF-based EHDD, the museum will preserve elements of a pre-existing 1960s-era warehouse once occupied by McGraw-Hill and, recently, Birkenstock.

The “world-class” museum aims to offer the city a new cultural destination, hosting art and design exhibitions, workshops, educational programming, and, of course, a rotating display of the Eames Collection archives.

Llisa Demetrios, a direct descendant of the Eameses and Chief Curator of the Eames Institute,  expressed, “To share my grandparents’ vision with the world is the honor of a lifetime.” “Ray and Charles’s boundless curiosity for solving problems through design has been at the core of the Eames Institute’s mission, and this expansion will allow us to share those gifts with our community on an even larger scale,” she added.

A lauded modernist architect rooted in the Bay Area, John Savahe Bolles, designed the building for publisher McGraw-Hill in the 60s. The following tenant was footwear label Birkenstock, which used the site from 1994 to 2019.

Over the decades, the building’s distinct character has earned it a landmark status among design enthusiasts and locals. Boasting a sculptural rooftop feature, it represents the bold vision of mid-century design and its leading creators. As of the time of writing, the plans have not been finalized, but the institute has ensured that the building’s defining characteristics (roof included) will be preserved.

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