The New Children's Museum

Despite its name, San Diego’s Children’s Museum has always been more of a freewheeling exploration space than a formal museum. So when it came time to design a new space, museum leaders wanted a building with the feel of an artist’s loft, where creative energy could flow. To achieve this vision, the architect for the project came up with a design solution that presents a modern take on the no-nonsense warehouses of another era.

Working with a tight budget, the Children’s Museum hired the general contractor early in the design process to provide pre-construction services including cost control and value engineering. Tilt-Up was selected over cast-in-place concrete, which would have been more hazardous, time-consuming and costly. The use of Tilt-Up saved the project an estimated $140,000 and shaved a full six weeks off the construction schedule.

Four main Tilt-Up walls stand side-by-side in rows (one is slanted outward to give the impression of a building bursting at the seams with fun) and are connected by walls of fully transparent glass. The structure is topped with slanted roof panels separated by sloped clerestory windows, imbuing the museum with light and providing wide-open views of the neighborhood.Exposed “temporary braces” hold the Tilt-Up panels in place illustrating and teaching concepts of gravity and structure. These permanently exposed braces also provided cost-saving value for the project. The height of the Tilt-Up walls (52 feet) means they can accommodate gigantic canvases and three-dimensional art pieces can dangle from high ceilings.

Winner of a number of awards (including two from the American Institute of Architects and two from the Associated Builders and Contractors), the combination of creative architecture and durable, sustainable materials gives the museum exactly what they wanted: a “non-precious” building where young artists are free to spill a little paint.