California Academy of Sciences by Peter Micek and Mona Koh

As the newly renovated California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park nears architectural completion, it awaits its residents, the plants, trees, insects, birds, and even penguins who will call it home.

The building itself — with its spherical planetarium and domed rainforest, high-tech piazza with suspended glass roof, and plexiglass tunnels winding through marine ecosystems — brings to life designs by famed architect Renzo Piano. It’s also arguably the greenest museum in the world, built to achieve a platinum rating from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design’s (LEED) Green Building Rating System. But the undulating “living roof,” planted with four native ground covers and five local wildflowers, will be a destination in itself. The seven hills of 1.7 million plants growing in 50,000 biodegradable coconut husk trays are said to mimic the seven largest hills of San Francisco. (source: San Francisco Chronicle)

Charles Phan of The Slanted Door (left) describing his cross-cultural menu to the press.

Inside the museum, a last minute addition brought together two local epicurean heavyweights, Charles Phan of Vietnamese restaurant The Slanted Door, and Loretta Keller, who offers European-American delights at downtown eatery Coco 500, to run the museum’s cafeteria. Phan promises to provide diverse, constantly changing dishes and teach about the food’s history. He offered spring rolls, salad, the Chinese vegetable bok choy, and chicken and potato curry to end the press tour on Nov. 1.

San Francisco, CA.

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