FEATURES
September 2008
109
GREEN ARCHITECTURE’S
Grand Experiment
Nine years ago the California Academy of Sciences asked:
What’s a natural history museum in the 21st century?
Its stunning new building is the emphatic answer. #
110
The Building
by Karen E. Steen
The museum’s graceful dialogue with its natural
surroundings mirrors the conversations Renzo
Piano had with the Academy when he first arrived
in San Francisco, his sketchbook at the ready
and his ears prepared to listen.
116
The Green Roof
by Belinda Lanks
The California Academy
of Sciences’ living roof
balances a commitment
to biodiversity with a
demand for beauty.
120
The Engineering
by Michael Silverberg
Weighing the needs
of the Academy against
the building’s dramatic
expression—seven rolling,
seismically secured
hills—required the work
of 320 engineers.
T more on this story at Metropolismag.com
# see Reference page for further information
124
Design After Franco
by Stephen Zacks
Delayed by decades of
war and dictatorship,
contemporary Spanish
design is now a force to
be reckoned with in the
international furniture-and-lighting scene.
134
Eco Innkeepers
The term green hotel
was once an oxymoron.
No more. Here’s a look
at some of the most
sustainable lodgings.
130
Hiding in the Hill
by Susan S. Szenasy
and Martin C. Pedersen
Two architectural firms
bring their unique cultural
perspectives to bear on a
state-of-the-art children’s
hospital quietly tucked
into the Tuscan landscape.
BEHIND THE COVER
“We were impressed with Volume when we collaborated with them on the February
2007 cover,” creative director Criswell Lappin says. “So when we wanted a San
Francisco–based graphic-design team to work on our September cover, they
seemed like the obvious choice. When we approached them, they told us they had
actually created the exhibition graphics for the Academy, and all the pieces fell into
place. We asked them to execute a ‘breathing buildings’ concept, but what caught
our attention in their first round of designs was an image using two of Tim Griffith’s photos to convey
the basic idea of the building—how the undulating green roof is shaped by the dome underneath it. The
result is beautiful, simple, and clear.”
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September 2008. METROPOLIS® (ISSN 0279-4977) is published 11 times a year, monthly, except bimonthly for
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