Exhibits, preschool and outreach with play at the center…and a Children’s Museum that seeks to serve all of southern Oregon.
While moving from a street front location in a retail district of Medford to the former Carnegie Library building at the center of a popular city park, The Children’s Museum of Southern Oregon (TCMSO) doubled down on their goal to deliver Reggio-inspired exhibits, programs, preschool and outreach. Since the museum opened in 2023, they have set their sights on further growth, with a building expansion in Medford and a satellite in Grants Pass. The FRAME team is thrilled to assist as they extend their regional reach.
MEDFORD, OR
For the 12,000 SF renovated museum, preschool and administrative space, the design team helped the TCMSO team envision a place-based museum in this historic building. The team also provided input for architectural renovations, suggesting interior partitions and locations for the lobby, rest rooms, classrooms and other museum-specific program elements.
The TCMSO team required robust design concepts for each exhibit zone, with the goal of moving quickly to fabrication (either in-house or with selected fabricators) and using off-the-shelf furnishings and elements where possible. They then expanded outdoors, activating the park so that the quiet lawns are now rich with treehouses, rolling hills, climbing structures, water play and gardens.
-
Size: 28,000 SF Museum, ½ Acre Exterior Exhibits
Completion Date: Recent projects: 2019-23. Original museum and exhibits: 2012
Selected Awards and Citations: Noyce Foundation – Bright Lights Award, LEED Gold Certification, Green Globes Certification, IMLS Museums for America Award
-
Prime Architect, museum building: Miller | Hull Partnership
Interior and Exterior Exhibit Designer, and Architectural Consultant: FRAME (recent projects); The Portico Group (original indoor and outdoor exhibits)
Landscape Architect: MxM Landscape Architecture (recent projects); The Portico Group (original site development)
Exhibit Fabricators: Turner Exhibits, Edge Concrete, HOCM Staff, El Dorado Climbing (boulder)
Alissa’s Role: Architect, Exhibit Designer and Principal-in-Charge
Photos by HOCM, Alissa Rupp