The Tech Interactive
201 S. Market St., Downtown, San Jose, CA
The Tech Interactive in San Jose, California, encourages kids and adults alike to find their inner innovator. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, this STEAM museum redefines the traditional museum experience by prioritizing touching and participating over reading and looking. Families will want to return again and again.
As a hands-on, immersive leader in STEAM education, The Tech Interactive appeals to visitors of all ages. The 132,000-square-foot (12,300-square-meter) space highlights permanent exhibits covering topics ranging from social robots and engineering to space exploration, healthcare science, and art and music—all of which you can learn about through experimental labs, design challenges, and hands-on activities. You can feel an earthquake on the Shake Platform, take a seat in the Jet Pack Chair, or build an optimized version of the Bay Area. Featuring educational and first-run flicks, the Hackworth IMAX Dome Theater, the largest dome theater west of the Mississippi, can also be found here. Let your imagination fly and your inner engineer take flight!
- In the Social Robots exhibit, visitors can design, build, and program a robot.
- The Tech for Global Good exhibit is a showcase of films displaying how the best uses of technology can change our world for the better.
- Plasticized human bodies are on full display in Body Worlds Decoded.
- The Tech Interactive is accessible to wheelchair users, with accessible parking near the center’s main entrance and wheelchair-accessible bathrooms on each floor. The IMAX also offers four wheelchair-accessible spots, each one paired with a companion seat. Two adult-sized wheelchairs can be reserved at no added cost.
- Most of the Tech Interactive’s videos include English and Spanish subtitles; labels in the permanent exhibits are written in both these languages.
The Tech Interactive is located in downtown San Jose, at the corner of Park Avenue and Market Street, directly across from Plaza de César Chávez park. Parking will be validated at the Second and San Carlos parking garage and the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. VTA light rail riders should exit at the Convention Center station.
The Tech Museum is open 359 days per year. It closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas and in early September for cleaning and maintenance.
San Jose's Tech Interactive is housed in an impossible-to-miss mango-colored building—one of the hallmarks of its architect, Ricardo Legorreta. The Mexican architect loved vibrant colors and the play of geometric shapes, two things on full display at the Tech Interactive.
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