The Living Museum

For a newly minted museum in San Francisco, the green architecture is the main exhibit
By Kalee Thompson Posted 03.06.2008 at 3:34 pm 7 Comments
The Living Museum: The California Academy of Sciences is the world's most eco-friendly museum Photo by Graham Murdoch
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From a bird’s-eye view, the domes of the California Academy of Sciences, set to open in the fall, bulge out of the ground like giant scoops of green ice cream. These undulating hills built into the museum’s 2.5-acre, flora-covered roof integrate the building into the green space of surrounding Golden Gate Park. They also conserve energy, since the roof insulates and ventilates the 400,000-square-foot museum below.

Rooted in Sustainability: The living rooftop is tiled with 50,000 biodegradable trays made of coconut husks. Each tray is specially layered to keep plants from slipping down the roof’s steep slopes. Photo by Graham Murdoch
Designed by renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano, whose works include the landmark modern-art museum Centre Pompidou in Paris, the $484-million structure will most likely be the largest public building ever to qualify for the U.S. Green Building Council’s “platinum” LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating. The designation, so far held by just 70 buildings worldwide, is the highest honor in green construction.

Beneath the roof, museumgoers will find a natural-history museum, a planetarium, a rainforest with free-flying birds, a coral reef inhabited by 4,000 fish, and an aquarium filled with saltwater pumped in from the Pacific Ocean. The most influential display, though, may well be the marriage of the museum’s physical design with its educational mission. “It’s not about dusty stuffed animals,” says executive director Greg Farrington. “It’s about human survival and living in harmony on planet Earth.”

Check out our animated tour, below, and launch our photo gallery of the world's greenest museum here.

7 Comments

Comments

Christian Madajski
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 03/08/08 at 2:37 pm

I think that things like this will lead to revolutions in technology and environmental acts in the future.

2 out of 2 people found this comment helpful
DRAGONRCR
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 03/10/08 at 1:13 pm

I love how more and more research is showing us how we can use nature to our benefit, w/o having to destroy it the way we have for the past few centuries. Large cities are trying to incorporate green roof tops for the sky scrapers and smaller office buildings. Even homeowners are using these to their benefits. If only we could get more people to use geo-thermal energy to heat their homes, ppl would save millions on heating costs, as well as benefit the environment, and decrease dependency on foreign oil, etc. Unfortunately, these technologies are suppressed by large corporations who will not be able to generate profit from the eco - friendly choices.

2 out of 3 people found this comment helpful
EnviroVhargeze

from San Francisco, California

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 03/10/08 at 6:32 pm

Indeed.

1 out of 1 people found this comment helpful
kempstep
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 03/11/08 at 2:15 pm

You might find the academy website on the building more informative... http://www.calacademy.org/academy/building/index.php

Enjoy!

1 out of 1 people found this comment helpful
kardelen133
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 05/26/08 at 12:35 pm

there are many lichtenberg figures on the ice near my home and they are not drain holes. They are merely the first places that the sun melts the ice, usually caused by something dark at the center which heats up and starts the melting. I have 40mg of pix if pop sci is interested.
su deposu temizlik şirketi
ankara nakliyat ankara temizlik şirketi
ankara nakliyat halı yıkama
thanks.

1 out of 1 people found this comment helpful
hedef
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 07/13/08 at 6:14 am

These undulating hills built into the museum’s 2.5-acre, flora-covered roof integrate the building into the green space of surrounding Golden Gate Park

evden eve nakliyatevden eve nakliyatevden eve nakliyatevden eve nakliyatnakliyat<

0 out of 0 people found this comment helpful
Cristiano
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 07/20/08 at 10:16 am

I think that things like this will lead to revolutions in technology and environmental acts in the film izle future.

0 out of 0 people found this comment helpful

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