California Academy of Sciences Builds Green Museum and Research Center

The California Academy of Sciences is planning a state-of-the-art "green" museum and research center in San Francisco. The center will consolidate and replace Golden Gate Park facilities including the Morrison Planetarium, the Steinhart Aquarium, and other laboratories and exhibition halls. The Academy, the oldest natural history museum on the west coast, will close in 2004 and reopen in the new complex in 2008. Currently housed in 340,000 sf,  the academy will expand to 370,000 sf and will add a multilevel rainforest exhibit. The $370-million project also includes adding a 225,000-gallon living Philippine coral reef exhibit to the rebuilt Steinhart Aquarium. A new piazza will provide views of Golden Gate Park. Children under 6 will benefit from an expanded early childhood education center. Renzo Piano, an award-winning Italian architect, is designing the project.