BAMBOO SHADE PRIVACY LINER

California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA. Renzo Piano Building Workshop with Stantec Architecture; design team: M. Carroll and O. de Nooyer (senior partner and partner in charge) with S. Ishida (senior partner), B. Terpeluk, J. McNeal, A. De Flora, F. Elmalipinar, A. Guernier, D. Hart, T. Kjaer, J. Lee, A. Meine-Jansen, A. Ng, D. Piano, W. Piotraschke, J. Sylvester, and C. Bruce, L. Burow, C. Cooper, A. Knapp, Y. Pages, Z. Rockett, V. Tolu, A. Walsh. CAD Operators: I. Corte, S. D’Atri, G. Langasco, M. Ottonello. Models: F. Cappellini, S. Rossi, A. Malgeri, A. Marazzi. Consultants: Arup, engineering and sustainability; Rutherford & Chekene, civil engineering; SWA Group, landscaping; Rana Creek, living roof; PBS&J, aquarium life support systems; Thinc Design, Cinnabar, Visual-Acuity, exhibits. General contractor: Webcor Builders. Designed Italy and United States, 2000–8

The recently completed California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, designed by architect Renzo Piano, is a vibrant expression of the Academy’s mission to explore, explain, and protect the natural world. At over 400,000 square feet, it is the largest public building ever to obtain a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum rating for its environmental performance. This natural-history museum is organized around a central atrium which leads to three architectural elements retained from the previous museum; and two new ninety-foothigh spheres, one housing a planetarium, the other a rain forest. The atrium is covered by two layers of tensile nets which hold sun, acoustic, and rain shades. Surrounding the building is a solar canopy embedded with 60,000 photovoltaic cells, which produces between 5 and 10% of the building’s power and casts a vibrating light shadow on the space below. The steel used for the structure is recycled; parts of the former demolished museum have been reused in a nearby freeway; excavated sand has restored the nearby coastal dunes; a large part of the building’s insulation is from recycled denim (San Francisco is home to Levi’s jeans); and water from the nearby Pacific Ocean is filtered and piped directly into the museum’s aquarium, which features the world’s deepest live coral-reef exhibit.

Another distinguishing feature is the museum’s 2.5-acre roof, landscaped with seven verdant mounds covered by nine indigenous plant species that provide habitat for butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, and other creatures. The roof’s eco-friendly design is a living environment and outdoor laboratory for students and scientists. The green roof also helps regulate temperatures throughout the building and absorbs 98% of all storm water, thus lowering its impact on San Francisco’s sewage system. The roof plants are carried in specially designed bio-trays made from coconut-husk fiber, lined with fungi to supply nutrients; the trays disintegrate within three years.

Like the angler fish, this eel appears to have an appendage on the top of its head that is designed to lure unsuspecting little fish within "fast food" distance of its grasping teeth jaws.

Being exceedingly lazy, I'm not going to make any attempt to properly identify any of the sea creatures, my wife and I saw at Newport Oregon's excellent aquarium, but I did want to share a few of the tank dwellers with others.

The aquarium had their otter and aviary exhibits closed down, so we almost hesitated to visit it on this trip, but once in on a sunny day and relatively uncrowded conditions, we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Monday 5 October 2009
We arrived in Newport Oregon, Monday evening in time to secure a good camping spot at the Oregon State Park South Beach campground (hot showers and right on the beach). We organized our camp which didn’t take long since our bed was already made up in the back of our 1994 Toyota 4 X 4 pickup truck with a cab high canopy (screen windows & reading lights).

Then we grabbed the cameras and hiked to the beach to take a few photos as the sun dropped below the horizon over the Pacific Ocean.

Tuesday 6 October 2009
We broke camp and drove to the Oregon’s tallest lighthouse at Yaquina Head, north of Newport. We rated this visit as one of the highlights of our entire road trip. The lighthouse was built in 1873 and was interesting to visit. The staff there gave a nice tour and provided us with interesting facts and stories about the lighthouse. We arrived early and the beach just south of the lighthouse was not crowded and had a large gathering of harbor seals, pelicans, cormorants and other sea birds. We thoroughly enjoyed the visit.