Garden Museum

The Garden Museum is a part museum, part food garden and farmers’ market as one way to provide Oakland’s community with greater access to healthy, locally sourced food. The convex shape of the museum’s first floor not only draws visitors in from all directions at the intersection but also creates a large open space in front for the farmers’ market. The museum exhibition space spirals upwards to the fourth floor, which takes on the form of a flower. Circulation up the spiral is decentralized to create an organic, wandering experience. The museum also features large open terraces for small gardens as well as outdoor exhibits and installations. A lightwell runs down the center of the building, bringing in more light while also creating greater visibility within the museum to provide visitors with glimpses of spaces beyond which they occupy.