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ARCHITECT FOCUS


L’ITALIEN MARC


The Exploratorium in San Francisco has relaunched in its new home, with the aim of being the largest net zero energy museum in the US. EHDD principal Marc L’Italien tells us more


How did you get involved with the Exploratorium? My first run in with the Exploratorium was as a young architect in 1991 when they sponsored a design charrette with three teams made up of artists, land- scape architects and architects. I was on a team with Joseph Esherick, the founder of my firm, and landscape architect George Hargreaves among others. The lively discussions during those few days gave me great insight into this wonderful institution.


Why did the museum need to move? I don’t think Frank Oppenheimer, the Exploratorium’s founder, ever saw the


Palace of Fine Arts as a permanent home. They had long since outgrown their space and were no longer able to adequately serve their visitors. They also train teachers who teach science in elementary schools and had to turn away two out of three applicants due to the inadequacies of their former home.


What was your vision for the museum? To create a transformative place along the San Fransisco waterfront that fur- thers the mission of the Exploratorium, the world’s leading institution of sci- ence, art and perception. We wanted to celebrate a much more public and dynamic site for the museum, and to place architecture, landscape and exhibits on equal foot- ing, creating a holistic environment that fosters inquiry and that sustains the environment.


n Marc L’Italien 28


Can you briefly describe the design of the new Exploratorium? The Exploratorium’s new home is the renovation of an ageing pier, where architecture, art, science and site converge. It elevates the museum’s mission as both a destination for expe- riential exhibits and a research and development facility that creates inno- vative ways to teach and learn. Visibility, public access and flexi- bility drove the planning and design. Situated midway between Ferry Plaza and Pier 39, the new Exploratorium brings to life a previously dormant


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n The Living Systems gallery frames the view of the Bay as the exhibits investigate the world it looks out on


stretch of San Francisco's historic Embarcadero waterfront, the city’s front porch. Almost three times larger than its previous site, the new campus uses bay water as a basis for many new outdoor exhibits as well as to con- trol the temperature of the museum. The complexity of the brief – to design an ultra-flexible building to sup- port an ever-changing array of exhibits in keeping with the Exploratorium's cul- ture of inquiry – was matched by the challenge of rehabilitating an existing historic structure in the most energy- efficient manner possible. Pier 15 was renovated to maintain its own his- toric character and the tinkering studio atmosphere of the old Exploratorium.


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