California Academy of Sciences
written by migueld
on May 15th, 2009
, 7 comments
(7 votes)
A planetarium, an aquarium, and a natural history museum, all wrapped in one: the California Academy of Sciences, located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, is a great place to learn and enjoy the natural sciences.
The architecture of the new building was designed by Renzo Piano, partly due to a seismic upgrade. Inside the museum there are two giant globes, one housing a rain forest and the other a planetarium. In the basement floor there is an aquarium, and on street level there is a natural history museum. You might be able to spot an albino alligator, a giant sea bass, and a colony of penguins living on site next to a working research facility!
Outside the museum are sculpture works by Maya Lin, and up on the roof is a garden, the so-called “Living Roof” because of its propensity to grow plants for local fauna. The museum itself is one of the best examples of sustainable and environmentally-friendly architecture, earning Platinum LEED status because it can run on little energy.
Visiting the museum is easy — it’s getting the tickets to get in that’s hard!
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