San Francisco International Airport’s Louis A. Turpen Museum & Aviation Library is the first and only accredited public museum and scholarly library located in an airport. It promotes public appreciation of aviation history and commemorates the history of the airport. The museum and library were inspired by the design of the 1937 San Francisco Airport Terminal.

The design establishes a spatial hierarchy focused around the expansive volume of the Exhibition Hall, creating a dominant axis from which supporting spaces respond. This axis provides a dialogue across the grand space, uniting architectural elements such as the elaborate stone floor, two-story columns, curved steel framing, and two grand staircases. The Library Stacks are intimate in scale while still providing a visual and spatial connection to the upper-level Exhibition Hall. Large model airplanes can be suspended from the davits within the open curved steel frame, providing a unique aeronautical sculptural experience.