: Photo: Annaliza Savage/Wired.comSAN FRANCISCO -- The California Academy of Sciences is practicing what they preach.
The organization's new 410,000-square-foot eco-friendly facility in Golden Gate Park is a living, breathing science experiment. The Renzo Piano-designed structure is the only building in the world to house a planetarium, museum of natural history and aquarium under the same roof. It's a fitting home for the 155-year-old academy and a proper tribute to the science wonders in its collections.
Click through the gallery for a sneak preview of this gorgeous building, which features a rain forest biodome, a coral reef, an underwater tunnel and one of the greenest roofs ever built. You can check it out in person on opening day, Sept. 27, 2008.
Left: The rain forest biodome is kept hot and humid with special lighting and atmospheric control systems. It has four levels designed to mimic different rain forest environments. A 100,000-gallon tank serves as home to Amazonian river dwellers. Stacked on top of it, and accessible via curving ramps, are biomes patterned on habitat in Borneo, Madagascar and Costa Rica.
: Photo: Annaliza Savage/Wired.com
The central plaza of the building features an open roof, seen in the center of this photo. The design isn't just for show; it's a key part of the building's natural ventilation system, which CAS hopes will keep energy costs down for the enormous building.
: Photo: Annaliza Savage/Wired.comThe "green roof" on the CAS building spans 2.5 acres and uses a complicated rainwater catchment system to reduce its water needs. Planted only with plants native to Northern California, the lines of rocks visible in this picture will help prevent erosion. The CAS planetarium sits underneath the "hill" to the far left.
: Photo: Annaliza Savage/Wired.comThe planetarium sits atop the coral reef tank. Seven high-definition projectors will provide an immersive space trip beginning in San Francisco and zooming all the way through space to the edges of the universe.
: Photo: Annaliza Savage/Wired.com
The circular windows in the roof automatically open and close to help regulate the temperature of the building.
: Photo: Annaliza Savage/Wired.comThe coral reef tank visible here is partially heated by high-powered lights placed close to the water. The lights are like football stadium lights that have been tuned to more closely emulate the sunlight that the coral needs.
: Photo: Annaliza Savage/Wired.comThis pulley system will be used to lower alligators into the so-called Swamp exhibit at the back of the museum.
: The reef exhibit features the deepest coral colonies created by human beings. The corals were grown off-site and delivered into position by scuba-diving biologists.
: Photo: Annaliza Savage/Wired.comThis ugly mug belongs to Bocolo, the museum's 35-year-old giant sea bass, a species native to the coast of California.
: Photo: Annaliza Savage/Wired.comThis 25-foot tunnel underneath the Amazonian flooded-forest tank allows visitors to gaze up at the anacondas, piranhas and giant catfish in the exhibit.
Little-known fun fact: Most piranha species, including the fish in the tank, are actually vegetarians. Pity the fool papaya that falls into this tank though, because the herbivorous fish can still take care of business.
: Photo: Annaliza Savage/Wired.comThe view from inside the tunnel underneath the Amazonian flooded-forest exhibit. Until all the fish species are introduced into the tank, the ecosystem is slightly out of balance, resulting in the out-of-control algal growth you see here.
: Photo: Annaliza Savage/Wired.comThe rainforest biodome is a fascinating mix of natural and human-produced parts. Live trees intermingle with concrete habitat, small exhibit spaces and humidifiers. Natural rainforest sounds will be piped into the space via special randomized algorithms.
: Photo: Annaliza Savage/Wired.comWhen this area opens to the public, birds and butterflies will be released to fly free within the 90-foot dome.
: Photo: Annaliza Savage/Wired.com
The Tusher African Center is a room filled with dioramas featuring stuffed animals like these antelope, which are still under wraps. The academy has had these specimens since they underwent preservation decades ago.
To touch them up for the new building, they were sent to a taxidermy cleaning center, where they were essentially dry-cleaned to look like new. But not all the dioramas feature stuffed animals: The academy's live African penguin exhibit also makes its home in the center.
