A Treasure of Nature
BY JOAN HEFFERNAN
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It was worth the wait. The California Academy of Sciences is open and ready for visitors – and they won’t be disappointed. Visually stunning, the renovation and new buildings command the area directly across from the DeYoung Museum.
Vast expanses of glass and delicate web-like cables support the façade, allowing the visitor to look through the building to surrounding Golden Gate Park. Greenery is everywhere, from the indoor rainforest to the “living roof.” The Academy building is a treasure of nature – housing an aquarium, planetarium, natural history museum, and world-class research and education programs.
On entering the museum, one encounters the Rainforests of the World exhibit. A circular walkway encompasses a four-story glass dome highlighting the rainforests of Borneo, Madagascar, Costa Rica and the Amazon. Croak-ing frogs, gliding butterflies, and twittering birds inhabit spaces along with geckos, chameleons and leaf cutter ants. Once around the staircase, a glass elevator whisks the visitor down to the flooded forest of the Amazon River, rife with electric eels, piranhas and anacondas. Fish swim overhead in an acrylic tunnel filled with Amazonian species.
Behind the rainforest, an eerily white albino alligator inhabits the swamp exhibit, along with more traditional colored alligators and alligator snapping turtles. Smaller tanks house snakes, frogs and salamanders.
For those of you who grew up loving African dioramas at the Academy, they are still here in a newly updated but very recognizable African Hall. Adding to the experience are plasma screens showing a virtual safari. Video footage of animals in the wild provide an animated version of the meticulously detailed dioramas.
In the Water Planet exhibit, shimmering sculpted walls and unique lighting effects explore the interaction of water and life. Touch surfaces highlight the physical and chemical properties of water. On the perimeter walls, a five-minute movie plays each hour.
The living roof is a must-visit. Its unique design gives a first impression that begs investigation. Although the viewing area is restricted to a small portion of the vast two-and-a-half-acre garden roof, the undulating planted mounds and round porthole windows are innovative and impressive.
The Academy’s architect, Renzo Piano, had a vision. Most museums are closed rooms in interior spaces. In his vision, the roof would rise above the light-filled interior and undulate with two round, 90-foot planted domes. One dome covers the living rain forest and the other covers Morris Planetarium. Three other roof “hills” echo those surrounding Golden Gate Park. Piano’s vision is innovative, spectacular and environmentally green. The plants absorb over three million gallons of water, provide insulation for the building and new habitat for native birds.
The California Academy of Sciences is a spectacular destination. Allow a minimum of four hours for a visit. Better yet, plan on lunch in one of the two famous restaurants, and make it a half- or whole-day experience.
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Drive
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
www.calacademy.org
(415) 379-8000
Vast expanses of glass and delicate web-like cables support the façade, allowing the visitor to look through the building to surrounding Golden Gate Park. Greenery is everywhere, from the indoor rainforest to the “living roof.” The Academy building is a treasure of nature – housing an aquarium, planetarium, natural history museum, and world-class research and education programs.
On entering the museum, one encounters the Rainforests of the World exhibit. A circular walkway encompasses a four-story glass dome highlighting the rainforests of Borneo, Madagascar, Costa Rica and the Amazon. Croak-ing frogs, gliding butterflies, and twittering birds inhabit spaces along with geckos, chameleons and leaf cutter ants. Once around the staircase, a glass elevator whisks the visitor down to the flooded forest of the Amazon River, rife with electric eels, piranhas and anacondas. Fish swim overhead in an acrylic tunnel filled with Amazonian species.
Behind the rainforest, an eerily white albino alligator inhabits the swamp exhibit, along with more traditional colored alligators and alligator snapping turtles. Smaller tanks house snakes, frogs and salamanders.
For those of you who grew up loving African dioramas at the Academy, they are still here in a newly updated but very recognizable African Hall. Adding to the experience are plasma screens showing a virtual safari. Video footage of animals in the wild provide an animated version of the meticulously detailed dioramas.
In the Water Planet exhibit, shimmering sculpted walls and unique lighting effects explore the interaction of water and life. Touch surfaces highlight the physical and chemical properties of water. On the perimeter walls, a five-minute movie plays each hour.
The living roof is a must-visit. Its unique design gives a first impression that begs investigation. Although the viewing area is restricted to a small portion of the vast two-and-a-half-acre garden roof, the undulating planted mounds and round porthole windows are innovative and impressive.
The Academy’s architect, Renzo Piano, had a vision. Most museums are closed rooms in interior spaces. In his vision, the roof would rise above the light-filled interior and undulate with two round, 90-foot planted domes. One dome covers the living rain forest and the other covers Morris Planetarium. Three other roof “hills” echo those surrounding Golden Gate Park. Piano’s vision is innovative, spectacular and environmentally green. The plants absorb over three million gallons of water, provide insulation for the building and new habitat for native birds.
The California Academy of Sciences is a spectacular destination. Allow a minimum of four hours for a visit. Better yet, plan on lunch in one of the two famous restaurants, and make it a half- or whole-day experience.
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Drive
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
www.calacademy.org
(415) 379-8000