The latest Renzo Piano project opened this weekend in San Francisco, CA. The California Academy of Sciences “is believed to be the greenest museum in the world, and is on course to earn the highest rating possible for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).” The building features a 2.5 acre ”living roof” of greenery, an array of energy collecting solar voltaic panels and wall cavity insulation made from recylced denim. Built for a reported $500 million, “the new Academy is a single structure but contains multiple venues, including the aquarium, the planetarium, the natural history museum and the 4-story rainforest. In addition, there’s a new 3D theater, a lecture hall, a Naturalist Center, two restaurants, an adjacent garden and aviary, a roof terrace, and an Academy store. The new building also houses the Academy science labs and administrative offices, including an extensive library and scientific archive consisting of more than 20 million specimens.”
source: CAS
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