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the Embarcadero, which had been seriously damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and were at risk of being torn down.
At this point, the Embarcadero had been designated a National Historic District and the two piers were listed on the National Register of Historic Places, administered by the U. S. National Park Service. The Exploratorium’s Board of Directors recognized the value of prime public exposure and access at the Embarcadero as well as the large amoiunt of available space for current and future development (roughly 200,000 sq. ft. at Pier 15 and an equal amount of interior space at Pier 17). The Board began negotiating for the lease in 2006 and the Port Commission authorized an exclusive agreement. Finally, with the support of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, the Exploratorium signed a 66-year lease in 2009 for the two piers and their warehouse buildings.
Once the basic decision was made about the future location for the Exploratorium, the roadmap could be laid out for the completion of the project with all its goals achieved, including the ad- vanced goal of constructing a large museum facility capable of ZNE performance. The roadmap also pointed to the many challenges and design constraints along the path to this goal, as de- scribed in the following paragraphs.
Historic Preservation Restrictions
With the designation, “registered national historic structures”, the two piers came under the strict administrative control of the both the National Park Service (NPS) and the California State His- toric Preservation Office (SHPO). All design renovation decisions were required to pass the scrutiny of these two agencies and obtain their final approval for anything affecting the historic “character” of the structures. This would affect almost every aspect of the ZNE design strategies and final decisions.
THE EXPLORATORIUM
CASE STUDY NO. 11
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