New Renderings Revealed as Eames Institute Moves Forward at Former Birkenstock Site

Progress is being made on an ambitious project to create a new art and design museum in Novato, spearheaded by the nonprofit that was founded by the family of late design pioneers Charles and Ray Eames.We first learned last year about the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity and its purchase of the abandoned former Birkenstock factory along Highway 101 in Marin County. The institute has plans to transform the striking 1964 warehouse building and the 88.5 acres surrounding it into a hub of art and design as well as the new home for the Eames Archive collection which currently resides in Richmond and is a major draw for design nerds.The institute has hired the Swiss architecture firm that designed the deYoung Museum, Herzog de Meuron, as well as Field Operations, the landscape design firm behind the Tunnel Tops and New York s High Line, to create a vision for the property. As Simon Demeuse of Herzog de Meuron tells the Chronicle, It is as much of a landscape project as it is a bu