The $500-million Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will raise the curtain this September on an eye-popping museum and theater complex that honors the past, is designed to resist future seismic forces and appears to defy the laws of gravity.

Although it is a landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Alameda High School, built in 1924, had been vacated by students since 1978 and was fully shuttered in 2012.

A failing sea cave leading to extensive cracking in the roadway at a popular tourist destination had the makings of a disaster.

In 2014, the National Basketball Association’s Golden State Warriors purchased the 780-ft by 650-ft site for a new arena because it afforded views of Mission Bay and was large enough to accommodate the team’s plans.