San Franciso, California, USA
Bay Area Discovery Museum applies the latest early childhood education research to develop STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) learning experiences that build creative problem-solving skills to transform the way children learn. To reimagine five new permanent exhibits, architects and exhibit designers collaborated with early learning experts from the museum’s in-house research division, seamlessly incorporating this work into interactive activities and environments.
Bay Area Discovery Museum by Olson Kundig Architecture, won an 2025 International Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.
Campus Master Plan
The museum occupies a unique and historically significant site at Fort Baker, a former WW1 military base, in the Golden Gate National Recreation area. The campus-wide master plan re-purposes campus buildings for the museum’s updated programs and creates new research-backed permanent exhibits. A phased approach to future planning and construction strategically positions the museum for longevity and long-term resilience.
Tot Spot
Tot Spot provides infants and toddlers with an age-appropriate introduction to STEAM concepts during a crucial time in their brain development. As the museum’s youngest guests crawl, toddle, feel and hop through themed environments, they build vital language, motor and social-emotional skills. Two rooms introduce different tactile experiences that invite touch and engagement, including a waterbed and gently rolling landmasses, united by a mural by artist Steven Valenziano. Painted in high contrast black and white—because very young children don’t experience color the same way as adults or older kids—the mural features animals and plants native to Marin County.
How Things Work
How Things Work features familiar items displayed in section, revealing their inner workings and the many small components that contribute to their function. Intended for all ages, this exhibit empowers children to ask questions, challenge their understanding of familiar objects and encourage them to view themselves as creators. Items include household appliances, a full-size pool table, a circuit board and a Mini Cooper, as well as a climbing structure and “attic” perch overhead.
Try It Studio
Designed for visitors 3 – 10 years old, the Try It Studio features machines that children can use and adapt, encouraging them to experiment and build on STEAM learning concepts introduced elsewhere. A kinetic drawing arm invites children to change the machine’s speed and rotation to impact the shapes it creates, demonstrating cause and effect. An interactive music box encourages children to plan ahead to change the notes and alter the tune, developing sequencing skills that are a precursor to coding. This highly flexible space can be opened to host large groups, lectures and community events, or made more intimate through movable chair walls.
Exterior Exhibits
Two new exterior exhibits revitalize outdoor spaces across the museum campus. Faith—a decommissioned commercial salmon troller—replaces an existing outdoor boat exhibit that was beloved but undersized with accessibility challenges. A new climbing activity, Gumnut Grove, allows children aged 5 – 10 to refine their gross motor skills, explore risk and develop confidence. The sculptural design is inspired by seedpods of eucalyptus trees that surround the site.
Architects: Olson Kundig
Lead Architect: Alan Maskin
Design Team: Marlene Chen, Megan Zimmerman, Crystal Coleman, Ryan Botts, Jared Luther, and Sarah Muchow
Landscape Architects: Surfacedesign
General Contractor: Cello & Maudru Construction Company, Inc.
Client: Bay Area Discovery Museum
Photographers: Matthew Millman
