Offering views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands, the Walt Disney Family Museum marks the largest and most historically significant rehabilitation to date in the Presidio, a former military post. The adaptive reuse of the site and three existing buildings into a state of the art museum includes permanent and temporary exhibit galleries, a children’s learning center, a public theatre, café, offices, and archival storage. The interactive nature of the museum, along with requirements for durable, attractive and sustainable finishes, triggered innovative strategies for reuse. Intricate infrastructure was provided to the exhibit areas, without compromising the character of the masonry and wood-framed spaces of the historic barrack.

San Francisco’s landmarked Ferry Building is a defining city destination. Its 2003 rehabilitation and renovation reintroduced the building as a ferry terminal, bustling marketplace, office space, and central gather place. To create the popular atrium marketplace, the second floor was punched with openings to bring bright light to the lowest level, a historically sensitive intervention. The reuse enables the Ferry Building to continue in the San Francisco cityscape much as it always has, and serves as a model for effective reuse and downtown renewals.