Angel Island Immigration Station

Angel Island Immigration Station was the entry point for approximately one million Asian immigrants between 1910 and 1940. Its mission was explicitly to prevent these immigrants from entering the country, and during the height of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the barracks served as a detention center. The buildings were scheduled for demolition in the 1970s until heartbreaking poems inscribed into the walls and floorboards by detainees were discovered, which precipitated a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

More than 200 restored poems are the centerpiece of an interpretive tour of the station. The detention barracks was conserved in place and became the museum, while the administration building’s footprint was re-interpreted to accommodate movement through the site recreating the experience of new arrivals as they came to understand their fate.  The visitors’ procession at each level captures the emotions of detainees as they were processed—from hope and fear to anger and frustration culminating in the barracks at the top of the site.

As Project Principal and Project Manager with Architectural Resources Group, Aaron assembled and led a team of more than 20 experts from archeologists, civil engineers, landscape architects, Native American community representatives, MEP consultants, arborists, land surveyors, fire safety engineers, hazardous material experts, and exhibit designers. He also assembled, led and facilitated scholars and Chinese poetry experts to complete a cultural transliteration interpretation of the poetry, which included the craft of carving these poems into the wood. 

Architect of Record:

Architectural Resources Group

Design Collaborators:

TEF Design and Dan Quan Design

Photo credits: 

David Wakely Photography