September 8, 2008

US & Canada | US | California | San Francisco

Wonderwalls

By Doug Black

Welcome to the world’s greenest museum.

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What do you get when you combine old blue jeans, tons of recycled steel and a patch of rolling wildflowers? If you’re starchitect Renzo Piano, you’ve got all the ingredients for the world’s largest green museum. After three years and $500 million, his new incarnation of the California Academy of Sciences opens later this month in San Francisco. Nestled in the middle of the city’s Golden Gate Park, the Academy is home to 38,000 live animals, an aquarium and a NASA-sponsored planetarium. And though San Fran is known for unpredictable climates, the museum can claim the city’s first rainforest and coral reef ecosystem, all within its walls.

But the very CAS building itself, even more than the exhibits, is one big love note to the natural world. Surely you didn’t think the city that coined “ecothusiasm” would attach a few solar panels and call it “green?” Every element of the museum is aimed at securing the U.S. Green Building Council’s top honor: the coveted LEED Platinum award. The building uses steel from demolished buildings, sustainably-harvested wood and insulation from used jeans. Most distinctive, though, is the “living roof.” That’s right, the Academy is crowned by 2.5 acres of living, breathing California plant species that sprawl over seven hills, echoing the surrounding parkland. More than an aesthetic flourish, the roof regulates the building temperature and sucks up over three million gallons of water runoff. And for the record, the roof is framed by 60,000 photo voltaic solar cells.

If you feel like fusing cutting-edge eco-technology with a Victorian vibe, you can seek refuge in the Westin St Francis. Currently in the throes of a $40 million overhaul — the largest since the Great Earthquake of 1906 — the grand dame of Union Square is refining its turn-of-the-century charm with modern convenience. Due for completion in spring 2009, the lobby’s marble pillars and wood-carved ceiling will be graced with self check-in “pods” and digital reader boards. All 614 guestrooms are getting similar upgrades that pit iPod docks and plasma screens against dark wood furniture and crystal chandeliers. And to prove they’re no dinosaur, the St Francis health club recently launched a Nintendo Wii-based workout regiment. Welcome to the 21st century.