Last summer, we ran an interview with Paul Kephart of Rana Creek Habitat Restoration and Living Architecture, a known leader among “green roofers,” with a huge portfolio of gorgeous and impressive living roof projects. At that time, we asked him about the developing plans for the new California Academy of Sciences’ rooftop, which had been touted as one of the most ambitious of its kind to date. From my perspective, the project addresses how to restore and encourage biodiversity in the urban sectors; what a great message, what a great venue. You know the Academy has a long tradition of exploring and explaining the natural world, and they have thousands of living organisms in collections and have been classified under the roof. Now the opportunity is to take that kind of experimentation in science and apply it in the built environment and as part of structure. The roof crowns a building designed by Renzo Piano, which sits near the recently reopened De Young Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. An article in today’s San Francisco Chronicle calls it “one of the world’s most ambitious biodiversity experiments.” Indeed, Kephart told us last year that his team was undergoing a painstakingly… (more)
(Posted by Sarah Rich in Green Building at 10:04 AM)