The California Academy of Sciences
The California Academy of Sciences, San Fransisco
Client: California Academy of Sciences
Architect: Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Stantec
Founded in 1853, the California Academy of Sciences is the largest cultural institution in the City of San Francisco, one of the ten largest natural history museums globally, and has a mission to explore and explain the natural world.
The Academy's new $484 million home located in Golden Gate Park opened to the public on 27 September 2008 and its completion marks the end of a seven year collaboration between Arup, and the architects Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Stantec.
The visually-striking building features an undulating 2.5 acre living roof with a perimeter steel canopy supporting photovoltaic cells, a large glass skylight supported by a tensile net structure, a freestanding 90-foot diameter planetarium dome, five separate iconic aquarium tanks and a 90-foot diameter glazed dome housing a rainforest exhibit.
