Have you been to the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park? It's well worth your visit, although the admission price is a little steep at $24. Recently reopened in September, CAS houses many incredible exhibits including an impressively deep actively-growing coral reef tank, an enclosed 4-story slice of a rainforest ecosystem--complete with misting cliff, leaf-cutter ants, and a tree frog hatchery--a colony of rare African penguins, and a fantastic fully-immersive planetarium. All of this is housed underneath California's largest living roof at 2.5 acres, literally green with 1.7 million species of native plants. The academy provides research and education towards a sustainable future.
Pritzker Prize-winning architect of the project, Renzo Piano says of his roof design “ [it] is like lifting up a piece of the park and putting a building under it.” Right now, the museum is the largest public facility to earn the platinum rate from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), not to mention the greenest museum yet with massive solar panels, radiant sub-flooring, bike racks, and rechargeable vehicle stations.
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