Tag! is a children’s museum dedicated to play-based experiential learning. It is a forward-thinking educational center that celebrates science, technology, history, the environment, art, and math. A leading goal from the project’s onset is to be a leading example of responsible environmental stewardship through sustainable design.
In 2007, PLACE Alliance and a group of parents and professionals came together to envision a children’s museum focused on educational, imaginative, and hands-on experiential play in St. Augustine, Florida. This multi-disciplinary design team established a vision for a children’s museum nestled within a mature oak hammock, integrating a unique landscape into the museum’s programing and as a connecting feature between the buildings. Utilizing the opportunities allowed by building a museum in a forest created a wide array of outdoor exhibits and play spaces. The landscape and the exhibits strive to honor the locality of the site, both culturally, and environmentally.
The museum’s programming includes, the “Big Backyard” a series of natural playground structures, music swings, a fort-building station, willow-tunnels, picnic areas, and nature trails. The “Tree Story Garden” is a performance and play space and functions as a native Floridian garden, a healthy kitchen garden, a science and weather station, rain gardens, a state of the art ecological treatment system, and a human-scaled bird house allowing children to climb into the trees and learn about native Florida habitats.