Discovery Cube Orange County

In 1984 the board of the Discovery Museum of Orange County received the support of county leaders to fund building a world class hands-on science center in Santa Ana. In the mid-1990s, prior to construction, a smaller “beta” version of the science center called Launch Pad operated in Crystal Court (now part of South Coast Plaza). The current 59,000-square-foot hands-on children’s science museum was opened on December 17, 1998, in what had originally been a Bekins Van Lines depot. The museum, perched on the east side of Interstate 5 just south of CA 22, was designed by the architect firm Arquitectonica, known for their bold use of colors. The 10-story-high, 108-foot solar array cube sitting on one of its points was created by structural engineers Carl Johnson and Svend Nielsen.

Santa Ana, Orange County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt