Children's Island
California

Children’s Island is the site for musical concerts during the Marin County Fair and for several other community events during the year. The goals of this project were three fold: to improve access to the temporary facilities required by the Americans With Disabilities Act, to respond to the Frank Lloyd Wright heritage at the Civic Center and to preserve the placid ambience of the island which people enjoy 340 days out of the year when public events are not scheduled.

Frank Lloyd Wright coined a phrase called “organic architecture,” which means that the built environment must harmonize with nature. Children’s Island has a round shape that is surrounded by water, which inspired fluid, curvilinear shapes in the design. The temporary, rectangular tent used for the music events was integrated into the flowing pathways and plazas in a way that did not interrupt the integrity of the natural site or fluid design.