Chabot Space and Science Center

by Leslie McGuire, managing editorr

Multi-use plazas incorporate a combination of astronomical and geological imagery; illuminated circular glass pavers depict the seven stars of the Seven Sisters cluster in the Pleiades (based on an Ohlone Tribe belief that the stars provide protection from earthquakes).

Chabot Space and Science Center, located in Oakland, California, is a hands-on center featuring interactive exhibits, a digital planetarium, a large screen theater, hands-on activities and three powerful telescopes.

Keller Mitchell provided landscape and hardscape design for the 20-acre rough, hilly site of a new observatory and educational center--a cooperative development effort on East Bay Regional Park land.
Photos courtesy of Keller Mitchell & Co. Landscape Architecture

The Center is the continuation and expansion of a public observatory that has served San Francisco Bay Area schools and citizens with astronomy and science education programs since 1883. It is named after the father of hydraulic mining and benefactor of the original Oakland Observatory, Anthony Chabot. The original Oakland Observatory was located in downtown Oakland and provided public telescope viewing for the community. For decades, it also served as the official timekeeping station for the entire Bay Area, measuring time with its transit telescope.

A Smithsonian Affiliate Museum, the Chabot Space and Science Center offers fun and interactive hands-on exhibits, activities, and demonstrations plus a digital full dome planetarium, giant screen theater shows, and telescoping viewing through spectacular telescopes. Interactive exhibits include ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Recognizing the need to restore full access to the facility, either by repair or relocation, in 1989 Chabot Observatory & Science Center was formed as a Joint Powers Agency with the City of Oakland, the Oakland Unified School District, and the East Bay Regional Park District, in collaboration with the Eastbay Astronomical Society, and in 1992 was recognized as a nonprofit organization. The project was led by Chabot?EUR??,,????'?????<

Accessible bus and car circulation planning, parking and drop-off areas can accommodate a high volume of simultaneous visitor and school buses arrivals and departures.

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An amphitheater with an outdoor staging and stargazing deck provides an outdoor classroom and teaching facilities. Terraced active enviro-gardens were programmed and planned for educational and exhibit purposes.

Opened August 19, 2000, the new Chabot Space & Science Center is an 86,000-square-foot (8,000 m2), state-of-the-art science and technology education facility on a 13-acre (53,000 m2) site in the hills of Oakland, California.Sof?EUR??,,????'?????<

Drought-resistant native plantings are consistent with the Center?EUR??,,????'?????<

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