77. That cool building you always see from 101

Anyone who’s lived in Northern California long enough probably knows the experience: you’re driving north on 101, headed toward Petaluma or Healdsburg, when that odd building on the left flashes by at 70 miles an hour.

Someone in the car asks, “What’s that?”

And someone else answers, “That’s the old Birkenstock factory.”

Beyond that, most people don’t know much about it. Last week, I had the treat of visiting the building and hearing about its next life.

The building was designed by John Savage Bolles in the 1960s as a warehouse for McGraw-Hill, which was expanding its textbook sales in California. Later, it became a warehouse for Birkenstock. After that, it sat empty for many years.

Docomomo NOCA, an organization dedicated to the celebration and preservation of modern architecture, arranged an incredible tour last week.

Recently, the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity purchased the building and began developing ambitious plans for it. This is the nonprofit that grew out of the legacy of Ray and Charles Eames — the designers behind the famous Eames Lounge Chair, as well as furniture, films, exhibitions, toys, graphics, and so much more.

The Institute’s CEO, John Berry, and Chief Curator Llisa Demetrios talked about their plans to turn the building into a museum — although “museum” may be too limiting a word — designed to inspire curiosity and a passion for design. It’s probably still a few years away, but it’s exciting to see such a fitting new use for such a remarkable building.

Below are some of the photographs I made during the visit.

Finally, I’ve been absent from posting for about six weeks because I’ve been finishing an incredible passion project I’ve been working on for the past seven months. I’ll share more about that here next week. And although I’m desperately behind, I’ll try to catch up on reading your posts and notes.

Warmly,
josh