There is a fantastic new building being built here in San Francisco! The California Academy of Sciences (CAS) is well underway and is slated to open in late 2008.

The CAS is the fourth largest natural museum in the United States and if all goes according to plan its new facility will be the largest public building in the world to have a LEED: Platinum rating!

[Leed stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is THE top standard established by the US Green Building Council. There are different levels you can achieve, Silver, Gold and of course Platinum being the highest.]

This really piqued my interest, as I was working on an article about green roofs for my environment column. Side bar: I must congratulate Europe for having already made green roofs popular much like your natural swimming pools. We here in the US are slowly starting to catch on! Anyways, during my research I discovered the CAS is installing a “living roof” which will have approximately 1.7 million plants blanketing its top!

Other Green Efforts Being Made:

• 90% of the demolition from the old academy was recycled
• Saltwater for the aquariums is being piped in from the Pacific Ocean
• 100% of the building’s steel is recycled steel
• Recycled blue jeans will insulate the walls
• Reclaimed water will be used for flushing toilets thereby reducing the use of potable water for the wastewater system
• Too much other stuff to name!

I’m actually trying to organize a tour for my women’s construction association, so if I’m able to get pictures I’ll post them later, as this is turning out to be one amazing project!

*Architect: Renzo Piano, General Contractor: Webcor Builders