California Academy of Sciences

California Academy of Science

55 Music Concourse Drive
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA 94118

(415) 379-8000

Musuem Website: http://www.calacademy.org/

Type of Museum:

Science, Museum of Natural History, Aquarium, Planetarium, Educational and research

About Museum:

California Academy of Science is – the only place on the planet with an aquarium, a planetarium, a natural history museum, and a 4-story rainforest all under one roof.

The California Academy of Natural Sciences was founded in 1853, only three years after California joined the United States, becoming the first society of its kind in the Western U.S. Its stated aim was to undertake “a thorough systematic survey of every portion of the State and the collection of a cabinet of her rare and rich productions”. It was renamed as the more inclusive California Academy of Sciences in 1868.

It completely rebuilt in 2008, the building is among the newest natural history museums in the United States. The primary building in Golden Gate Park reopened on September 27, 2008 and reported that over 1 million people visited every year there! Construction began on the new $500 million dollar building on September 12, 2005, while the exhibits were moved to 875 Howard Street for a temporary museum.

The new building is at the forefront of environmentally-friendly design, in keeping with the academy’s focus on ecological concerns and environmental sustainability. It received Platinum certification under the LEED program.^[9] As a result of its environmentally-friendly design and other unique features, this project was featured on the Discovery Channel Extreme Engineering series in 2006 ^[10] and on the National Geographic Channel Man-Made series in July 2008. The new design is more green and eco friendly.

Museum: features

The new building includes a remarkable array of environmentally-friendly features.

Produces 50 percent less waste water than previously
Recycles rainwater for irrigation
Uses 60,000 photovoltaic cells
Supports a green roof with an area of 2.5 acres (1.0 ha)
Uses natural lighting in 90 percent of occupied spaces
Was constructed of over 20,000 cubic yards (15,000 m³) of recycled concrete
Construction includes 11 million pounds (5,000 t) of recycled steel
Wall insulation made from scraps of recycled denim

Musuem has lot to offer for kids and adults of all ages; To see it all, whole day is needed as it has planetarium, aquarium and living roof and more to learn from.