Outdoor Exploratorium Partnership

In 2006, a collaborative partnership was forged between the Exploratorium, Fort Mason Center, and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area to host the Outdoor Exploratorium at Fort Mason, a former military site located between Aquatic Park and the Marina District in San Francisco.

The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is a U.S. National Recreation Area administered by the National Park Service. One of the largest urban parks in the world, it is also one of the most visited units of the National Park system.

Fort Mason Center, located in the historic piers and buildings of Lower Fort Mason, houses about 25 nonprofit organizations and hosts a wide variety of meetings, conferences, performances, and special events throughout the year.

The Exploratorium

The Exploratorium, located inside the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco’s Marina District, is a public educational institution for peoples of all ages. This innovative museum of science, art, and human perception provides experiences that let visitors—including those with little or no scientific knowledge — understand and explore science, nature, and the world around them. More than 500,000 visitors will come to the Exploratorium this year to interact with the museum’s original hands-on exhibits; 6,000 teachers will participate in professional development programs; 128,000 students and teachers will visit on school field trips; and another 5,000 students, many from San Francisco’s underserved neighborhoods, will benefit from the Children’s Educational Outreach Program. Millions more will visit the museum’s extensive and award-winning Web site and see Exploratorium exhibits at other science centers worldwide. At the 4th Science Center World Congress in Rio de Janeiro in 2005, science centers from five continents ranked the Exploratorium as the number one science center in the world.

Outdoor Exploratorium Site

Fort Mason Center is a 13-acre urban waterfront site with a north-facing shoreline affording expansive views of San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate Bridge. The architecture consists of six main buildings and three large piers, built in the Mission Revival style popular in California in the decade before the First World War.

Upper Fort Mason is a 55-acre National Park and Historic Monument situated on a headland that has been the site of military fortifications since 1797. Below the headland is Black Point, one of the last remaining stretches of natural shoreline on the San Francisco waterfront. The western portion of the park contains a diverse collection of historic buildings reflecting Fort Mason’s long history as a military post.

Although Fort Mason was originally established as a coastal fortification in the 1860s, it is best remembered as a key part of the San Francisco Port of Embarkation between 1910 and 1963. During World War II, Liberty ships built in Bay Area shipyards transported thousands of troops to the immense pier and dock system at Lower Fort Mason — and from there around the world.