‘World’s Greenest Museum’ Opens In San Francisco
by Ashley Schiller
Published on October 3rd, 2008
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The California Academy of Science at the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco opened last week as “the world’s greenest museum.”
According to the Academy’s site, the building is “a masterpiece in sustainable architecture, blends seamlessly into the park’s natural setting, and is filled with hundreds of innovative exhibits and thousands of extraordinary plants and animals.”
The 2.5 acre ”Living Roof” is made up of about 1.7 million plants native to the area. The roof has several low hills, causing the building to visually blend with the rest of the park.
Many recycled materials were used in the new building’s construction:
- 95 percent of the steel used in construction comes from recycled sources
- 90 percent of all demolition materials were recycled
- 68 percent of the insulation comes from recycled blue jeans
- The concrete is made of 15 percent fly ash (a recycled coal by-product) and 35 percent slag
The Academy contains multiple venues, including an aquarium, a planetarium, the natural history museum and a four-story rainforest. There is also a 3D theater, lecture hall and roof terrace.
