California Academy of Sciences: Lions, tiger sharks and spiders (oh my!)
It took three years and a half-billion dollars, but the daily crowds that have filled the rebuilt California Academy of Sciences since it reopened in fall 2008 suggest it was worth it. Sure, they come to admire the stunning architecture by Pritzker Prize winner Renzo Piano, and the innovative, visually appealing and often interactive exhibits. But most of all—among the kids at least—they come to see live creatures big and small.
They number 38,000 at last count, with a conspicuous emphasis on creatures that delight little boys: snakes, spiders, frogs and bats are prominently displayed. More than an indoor zoo, however, the Academy is the world’s only place where there’s a natural-history museum, aquarium, planetarium and world-class education center under one roof.
Speaking of the roof, it’s a “living roof,” which is one clue to the Academy’s environmental consciousness-raising mission. The 2.5-acre roof is covered with native plants designed to heat and cool the building—and to show visitors who make it to the roof that this is one centuries-old green solution that is hardly high-tech. The Academy also practices what it preaches, having earned the highest LEED Platinum certification of any museum in America. Besides the rooftop garden, insulation made of recycled blue jeans and a field of solar panels contribute to this coveted status.
Beneath that roof is a sprawling building that houses the world’s largest all-digital planetarium (eight daily shows); an aquarium starring sharks, piranhas and stingrays; the African Hall with its lifelike dioramas of lions, tigers and zebras on the savanna; and other areas that spotlight local and distant ecosystems. But the biggest draw is the four-story-high Rainforests of the World, enclosed in glass with its own tropical climate, flora and fauna—with birds and butterflies flitting around as you ascend a spiraling ramp. A new Biggest Mammals exhibit debuts April 3, 2010, which is sure to bring more crowds.
The Academy was a hit even before the 1989 Quake forced the rebuild and there’s a tribute to the old 1916 Academy building: the still-popular pond full of alligators and snapping turtles on the main floor. But the rest of the place is pure 21st-Century.
Posted by Bob Cooper
