August 27, 2025

EHDD and Herzog & de Meuron convert Birkenstock campus into museum

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Conceptual drawing of the Birkenstock building conversion including the sawtooth roofline. Rendering courtesy of Herzog & de Meuron

Earlier this year the Eames Institute purchased the iconic 88.5-acre Birkenstock campus in Novato, California, intending to convert it into a design museum for the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity.

In July the institute named EHDD as executive architects and Herzog & de Meuron to lead the project as design consultants. EHDD has offices on the Seattle waterfront.

“EHDD is thrilled to be partnered with the Eames Institute to bring this important design legacy to life, while creating a vibrant and unique destination for design,” Christopher Patano, partner, EHDD Seattle, told the DJC.

According to the Institute, Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron and San Francisco–based EHDD were brought on to “reimagine the design of the campus into a dynamic public space that honors its architectural legacy while opening it to new generations of guests.” Their first step is to create a programmatic roadmap for the project.

The Eames Institute design museum will feature art and design exhibitions, makerspaces and workshops, educational programming, accessible public open space, and culinary and retail experiences. The museum will feature rotating displays from the Eames Collection.

The Birkenstock campus is a much loved West Coast architectural icon visible to all traveling Marin County along the Redwood Highway/U.S. Highway 101. The campus warehouse features a distinctive sawtooth roofline visible from the highway. This tent-like concrete roof will be preserved and highlighted in the renovation as an enduring example of mid-century modern design.

Image from the Eames Institute collection [enlarge]

Iconic sawtooth roofline made up of concrete roof components designed in the 1960s by John Savage Bolles.

The building was designed in the 1960s for the McGraw-Hill publishing company by San Francisco modernist architect John Savage Bolles. Bolles is responsible for several prominent sites around the Bay Area, including the original Candlestick Park southeast of downtown San Francisco.

Image from the Eames Institute collection [enlarge]

Birkenstock campus is a West Coast icon visible to all traveling Marin County along the Redwood Highway/U.S. 101.

In 1991, the German shoe company Birkenstock moved in, basing their U.S. headquarters and distribution there. The campus has been vacant since 2020.

According to the Eames Institute website, they settled on the Novato site as it “offers an iconic campus with architectural and historical significance.” Additionally, there is a northern California connection through the Eames' daughter, Lucia Eames, who made her home in Petaluma. She is the caretaker of the Eames collection, along with her daughter, Llisa, who now curates the collection for the Eames Institute.

“Ray and Charles's boundless curiosity for solving problems through design has been at the core of the Eames Institute's mission, and this expansion will allow us to share those gifts with our community on an even larger scale,” said Llisa Demetrios, the granddaughter of Ray and Charles Eames and chief curator of the Eames Institute.