Ever since I first heard about the new California Academy of Sciences, designed by Renzo Piano, which opened on September 27, I wanted to go to San Francisco and see for myself. Recent articles are enthusiastic, even ecstatic, describing the building as “environmental marvel” and a “reaffirmation that human history is an upward spiral rather than a descent into darkness.” According to its reviewers, “the greenest museum in the world” “touches the ground with the delicacy of a ballerina” and looks like “a delicate piece of fine embroidery.”
Green, symmetrical, classical?
Floating, undulating, natural?
To me the skylights on the bumps in the roof look like scales or the facets of a fly’s eye…
Lush, complex, energetic?
Light, weightless, transparent?
See New York Times article and slideshow and The Guardian article and slideshow.
