Following up on last week's reveal of the California Academy of Sciences, Chron "Surreal Estate" columnist Carol Lloyd wonders if the building's living roof may "spark a revolution," lodging green roofing into public consciousness. Architect Renzo Piano's design has truly and undoubtedly shattered the "curiosity cabinet" model of design and display, a method that many natural history museums have only somewhat recently begun to reconsider. We await this building with bated breath, and believe that it will serve as an extension of sorts to Walter Hood's landscape work surrounding the de Young Museum (which we also wholeheartedly heart), as well as Herzog and de Meuron's building.
Our question remains, however: Perhaps we misunderstood Lloyd, but to us it seems as though green roofing, if not quite yet mainstream, is nevertheless a widely known building method— especially in the Bay Area, where such rooftops are talked about and visible to city denizens regardless of whether they're familiar with the process or not. Are we too deeply entrenched in this vein of dialogue (greenness, sustainability, etc.) or is Lloyd underestimating her public?
· The California Academy of Sciences' beautiful new living-roof may well spark a revolution [SF Gate]
[Image courtesy the Academy of Sciences/ Stephanie Stone via the San Francisco Chronicle]
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