Green Academy

San Francisco's Academy of Sciences project steers toward LEED platinum

By Robert Carlsen

By all measures and from the first spark of creation by Italy's Renzo Piano of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, the California Academy of Sciences project in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park has been an efficient "how-to" roadmap on achieving LEED platinum certification.

Webcor Builders, working in conjunction with engineering and sustainability consultant Ove Arup, landscape architect SWA Group and architect Chong Partners Architecture, recently topped out the five-story, $429-million building as well as completing the undulating roof.

It is this "Living Roof" design that has lots of industry folks turning green with envy.

"Once it opens, the new California Academy of Sciences is expected to become the largest public LEED platinum building in the world," says Stephanie Stone, communications manager for the California Academy of Sciences. "Sustainability at the new academy will extend from the basement, where we will recycle and reuse water for our aquarium tanks, through to our living roof, which will be planted with over 1.7 million native California plants."

Founded in 1853 to survey and study the vast resources of California and beyond, the California Academy of Sciences is the oldest scientific institution in the West. Over the past 154 years, the academy has grown to become the fourth largest natural history museum in the country.

The 2.5-acre green roof will be planted with nine native California species that will not require artificial irrigation. Besides plants, the roof will also house 60,000 photovoltaic cells that will supply almost 213,000 Kwh of clean energy per year (about 5 percent of the new academy's needs) and prevent the release of more than 450,000 lbs of greenhouse gas emissions. The planted roof will also provide a thermal insulating layer for the building that will help prevent overheating during the summer and reduce energy needs for air conditioning. It will also reduce stormwater runoff by at least 50 percent (up to 2 million gallons of water per year).

Other green innovations at the academy include extensive natural light and ventilation - at least 90 percent of the regularly occupied spaces will have access to daylight and outside views; recycled steel used for 100 percent of the buildings structural steel; and openings in the roof domes that will create a stack effect on the exhibit floors, drawing in cool air from below and exhaling warm air out the roof.

The 409,178-sq-ft Academy of Sciences will house the Steinhart Aquarium, Morrison Planetarium, millions of scientific specimens and thousands of live animals. It consists of a five-story structural concrete research/collections/administration building with floor-to-ceiling glass walls; three-story structural steel/concrete African Hall exhibit; and three-story structural concrete retail/restaurant/auditorium space.

Also, a glass-enclosed rainforest dome; planetarium dome; a 53,000-sq.-ft. radiant floor exhibition hall; split-level basement housing aquarium life support systems; and, of course, the concrete topped structural steel frame topographical garden roof.

"With the new academy, we are creating a museum that is visually and functionally linked to its natural surroundings, metaphorically lifting up a piece of the park and putting a building underneath," says architect Piano. "We are excited to collaborate with the academy on a project in which design and mission are so seamlessly integrated. Through sustainable architecture and innovative design we are adding a vital new element to Golden Gate Park and expressing the academy's dedication to environmental responsibility."
Webcor says it is using its concrete expertise (via its subsidiary, Webcor Concrete) to create many one-of-a-kind structures including six aquariums requiring complex compound curves, waterproof concrete and massive custom acrylic windows.

Kip Trexel, Webcor's project director, says that more than 300 craftspeople, consultants and workers have been onsite daily in recent months, with more than 25 subcontractors involved. With Webcor Concrete completing its work last month, Trexel adds that once the surrounding glass is installed the next stage is completing the interior work, which will be formidable.

"At the aquarium, we recently completed the rock work in the tanks," Trexel says. "The next task is installing the acrylic aquarium windows."

Trexel adds that the partially glass-enclosed piazza sitting at the heart of the building will be the next major challenge come. "The installation of the piazza trusses holding the glazing will be a tough job," he says.

The project is scheduled for a late 2008 completion.

The Project Team

Owner: California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco
Architect: Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Genoa, Italy, in collaboration with Chong Partners Architecture, San Francisco
General Contractor: Webcor Builders, San Mateo
Engineer: Ove Arup, San Francisco
Landscape Architect: SWA Group, San Francisco

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