The Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity is a public charity that brings the lessons of Ray and Charles Eames to life. Though composed of several sites around the San Francisco Bay, it is the Eames Ranch in Petaluma, California, that electrifies the imagination. The ranch functions as a living laboratory where nonprofits, conservationists, educators, and other social creatives can test and refine ideas rooted in the Eames holistic ethos that nature is the ultimate designer.
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Design question
Ray and Charles continually drew inspiration from the natural world and believed that 'eventually everything connects'—salient amid the unfolding climate crisis. But the Eameses were nothing if not problem-solvers. How might the Eames Ranch offer a service experience that invites likeminded social creatives to manifest their visions for change?
Design response
The Eames Ranch is a landscape for cultivating curiosity—a working farm where the practices of design and regenerative agriculture are integrated to build a better world for tomorrow. The team partnered up with Eames Institute staff—an extraordinary group of talented architects, planners, experience designers, visual artists, archivists, and curators—to think deeply about the uses of land and space for learning, exploring, and embodying the lessons of Ray and Charles. If agriculture is indeed an act of design, then the Eames Ranch is an act of love—a gesture toward those individuals and communities who cross its threshold with hopes for a thriving world.