Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park
The California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco is now the greenest museum on the planet. It is also the largest public building to have attained the platinum rating for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) , and it’s really cool. For the past several years, the Academy was moved to a temporary location in downtown San Francisco as the new building was constructed. The new Academy building, located on the same site in Golden Gate Park as the old museum, was designed by Pritzker Prize winning Italian architect Renzo Piano, and incorporates an amazing array of green features. The 2.5 acre living roof is planted with 1.7 million native plants, recycled denim was used as insulation, gigantic solar panels cover the roof, the building is heated with radiant heat, and rechargeable vehicle stations and bike racks wait outside for eco-friendly forms of transport. The building itself now acts as an exhibit, offering a wealth of information about sustainability and energy conservation.
Native Californian Plants Cover The Living Roof
A View of the 4-Story Rain Forest
Within those new eco-friendly walls lies a real treasure: A four-story rain forest enclosed in a giant glass dome. You can walk through the rain forest, following a meandering path as it climbs from one layer to the next – and with the temperature maintained at a range of 82-85 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity kept above 75%, you can actually feel the damp heat on your skin as birds and butterflies soar overhead. Then a glass elevator takes you beneath the rain forest, into the flooded Amazon basin, where you walk through a clear underwater tunnel to view the tropical freshwater fish.
The New Digital Planetarium, And An Old Favorite, The T-Rex
Add to that a 3D theater, natural history museum, new digital planetarium, naturalist center, garden, aviary, roof terrace, lecture hall, two restaurants, and one of the largest exhibits of living coral reefs in the world, and I do believe you can find something for every member of your family to enjoy. And if you go on the third Wednesday of every month, it’s free!
Living Coral Reef Exhibit
Panther Chameleon
To find out more about the California Academy of Sciences, check out their beautifully redesigned website. They have also developed a number of interesting blogs that take you behind the scenes at the Academy and on research expeditions, as well as sharing their entertaining 24/7 Penguin Cam – just click here to reach all of these features.
No related posts.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
We went last week and we all had a great time! For adults and toddler alike, there is more to see than can be comfortably fit into one day–so we got a membership!
Awesome! If I still lived in the bay area I would definitely get a membership
I love this place