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Opening on 27 September 2008, the new home of San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences will stand as the largest green public installation on earth. While every phase of the facility’s development has incorporated sustainable design, the new roof updates a familiar idea in a way that will make the site more efficient while reflecting the area’s landscape.
Architect Renzo Piano imagined the structure as a whole sliding into the earth, creating an area that blends seamlessly with its surroundings and serves as a corridor for wildlife. A 2.5 acre living roof serves as the centerpiece of this vision, sheltering the site and hosting a wide variety of plants native to California. Similar in basic concept to green roofs used for small-scale gardening and to offset the environmental effects of cities, Piano and consultants Visual Acuity used the surface of the roof to create a set of artificial hills. The shape of the roof itself changes the flow of air moving over the building, drawing air into the exhibit areas . This feature–working in conjunction with a set of mechanized skylights that monitor internal light and temperature–will eliminate the need for air conditioning and create a space incorporating natural ambient light. While allowing the Academy to operate more efficiently, the roof will blend into the topography of the area, reducing the visual impact of the site while paradoxically creating a monument to green design.
. Historian Shae Davidson's research interests include public policy and the relationship between culture and civil society. His publications range from articles on industrial history to absurdist poetry.
