Museum of the American Indian
Novato, California

The Museum of the American Indian in Miwok Park in Novato, California is the only cultural resource of its kind in the Bay Area. We worked with Kuth Ranieri Architects to develop a proposal for a new 4,500-square-foot state-of-the-art facility that celebrates the Museum’s mission to protect an exceptional collection of native artifacts and educate school children about America’s first people. Located in a city park, the proposed building plan negotiates complex public and private programmatic needs in a simple yet compelling form. Flexible spaces allow the museum to operate education and exhibition programming simultaneously and to create controlled spaces for rentable event space after hours. The site strategy connects the park and museum, so that each is an amenity to the other. The building strategy seamlessly incorporates the functional and technical requirements of museum-quality environmental control, storage and administration, and universal accessibility within artfully crafted design deeply rooted in the project’s site, history, and community.

Awards
Spark Award – Silver in Spaces category
AIA San Francisco Citation Award in Unbuilt Design

Size: 4,500 SF
Architect: Kuth Ranieri Architects
MCLA Team: Jeffrey Miller