The Architect as Explorer
By any measure, Renzo Piano stands among the world's greatest architects. As the jury awarding him the 1998 Pritzker Prize wrote, “Piano achieves a rare melding of art, architecture, and engineering in a truly remarkable synthesis. He celebrates structure in a perfect union of technology and art.”
Piano often points to his father as his original inspiration. The Italian builder took his young son to the harbor in Genoa to watch the ships arrive. Young Renzo saw them “as immense buildings that moved through space.” Throughout his career, he carried this image of buildings “as structures that fight against gravity, miracles bending the laws of physics.”
At the same time, Piano abhors the word “style.” As Patrick Kociolek, the former executive director of the Academy remembers, Piano came without attitude or entourage. “He arrived with only a sketchpad and a green felt-tip pen. Instead of explaining his design for the new Academy, Piano simply asked us to describe the Academy's ethic.”
“I try to get at the fundamental emotion of a site,” says the architect. The roof design “is like lifting up a piece of the park and putting a building under it.”
“This museum has always worked on three levels—displaying the collection, educating the public, researching the science. The spirit of this new building is to announce and enforce this complexity of function.”
Project Status
Construction on the new Academy has completed several milestones since the groundbreaking ceremony in 2005. The shell of the structure is nearly complete. The plants on the living roof are now bursting with color. Even the aquarium tanks have been tested for leaks and safety.
By the end of October 2007, Webcor Builders will finish construction on the building and turn the keys over to Academy officials. In the coming year, aquarium biologists will transport and acclimate 38,000 live animals to their new homes. Artists and curators will meticulously recreate the dioramas in African Hall. Workers will plant rainforest trees inside a four-story glass dome. Work on a newly designed planetarium show, a 3-D theater, a new restaurant and retail space will be completed in the months ahead. Expect the California Academy of Sciences to reopen its doors in Golden Gate Park by Fall 2008.
Fast Facts on Project Status
- Year the California Academy of Sciences was founded: 1853
- Year the Steinhart Aquarium opened: 1923
- Size of new Coral Reef Exhibit: 212,000-gallon tank with four thousand fish—the deepest living coral display in the world
- Components of the new museum: Kimball Natural History Museum, Steinhart Aquarium, Morrison Planetarium
- Returning favorites: The Swamp, Foucault's Pendulum, African Hall, the Penguins
- Number of scientific research departments: eight
- Total number of natural history specimens: more than 20 million
- Number of building structures in the old museum: Twelve
- Number of building structures in the new museum: One
- Total public space in new Academy: 106,230 square feet
- Total square footage: 410,000 square feet
- Total green space created by the living roof: 2.5 acres
Meet the Design Team |
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Creating the California Academy of Sciences new home required nearly a decade’s worth of planning and effort. Our thanks goes to more than three hundred Academy staff members, consultants, technicians, and partners who made this transformation possible.
Architecture
Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Genoa, Italy
Stantec Architecture, San Francisco, CA
Building Project Manager and Owner Representatives
DR Young Associates, San Rafael, CA
Engineering and Sustainability Consulting
Arup, San Francisco, CA
Exhibits (Aquarium Life Support)
PBS&J, Encinitas, CA
Exhibits (Aquarium Design)
Thinc Design, New York, NY
Exhibits (Museum Design)
Cinnabar, Los Angeles, CA
Exhibits Project Manager
Rhodes/Dahl, Charleston, SC
General Contractor
Webcor Builders, San Mateo, CA
Landscape Architecture
SWA Group, Sausalito, CA
Living Roof Consultants
Rana Creek Living Architecture, Carmel Valley, CA
Planetarium Technical Consultant
Visual Acuity, Brighton, England
Technology Systems
TEECOM Design Group, Oakland, CA
