Making a Mountain Out of a Mole Hill

The California Academy of Sciences, has decided to redesign their museum after the quakes in 1999. They choose Renzo Piano to be the architect to carry out the new project that is being constructed in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Piano along with the California Academy of Sciences, had big goals for the new museum with two tasks in mind, keeping the historic (restoring old facades, pillars, and vaulted ceilings) while also being innovative and technological. The new museum houses some crazy, new elements including a brand new digital planetarium, a living penguin display in the African Hall, and even a mock rainforest. Unlike most museums, The new California Academy of Sciences uses glass to open up the spaces providing ambient lighting and even open courtyards.The new museum also is a leader in green technologies including photovoltaic systems that alone provide 5% of the building’s energy, Many of the building components coming from recycled materials (90% of all demolition materials were recycled, 50% of lumber was harvested from sustainable yield forests, 68% of insulation comes from recycled blue jeans), and finally the most important element is one of the largest living roofs. The roof covers over 2.5 acres, which houses 1.7 million native pant. The living roof provides insulation along
with absorbing over 3.6 million gallons of rainwater, which would typically just end up in storm drains. The roof within its self is an engineering phenomenon (322 engineers where on duty) due to its complex roof structure of suspended glass ceilings, and “hill” structures that house the planetarium and mock rainforest. The 488 million dollar museum opens its doors on september 22nd 2008, and it seems to be anything but extraordinary. The California Academy of Sciences took their once typical museum, and have really created an innovative establishment on the cutting edge of sustainable and green technologies.

Its a Bird, Its a Plane, No its an Office Building??

Architecture through out the course of time has seen some serious changes in styles, building techniques, and even scale. Coming into the 21st century, architecture is evolving at incredible rates, due to the advancement of computers and software programs. Architects have really started to push the limits, and in return have created some outrageous buildings. One of the most notable architects that has pushed design is Frank Gehry, with his chaotic organizations of titanium, and his buildings could only be designed with computer aid. Now there is a new architecture firm in town, and they have started to use technology in a different manner. James Law Cybertecture International Ltd., a firm based in Hong Kong, has created a new language and this is called cybertecture, which is the idea of blending technology into our rigid building structures, giving them the chance to evolve with its inhabitants. In order to do this, the firm looks to blend tangible materials (concrete, steel, and glass) with intangible materials (technology, multimedia, intelligence, and interactivity). This new principal is demonstrated in their newest creation The Cybertecture Egg, which is under construction in Mumbai, India. The concept is planet earth working as an ecosystem that allows life to evolve. The egg uses cybertecture allowing the building to evolve providing its inhabitants the most optimal work space (did I mention this amazing structure is an office building). The building is meant to look like a planet that has been stretched and skewed, which gives the building its egg shape.
The complex shape allows the building to reduce surface area by 10 to 20 percent, which cuts down the buildings solar gain. The Egg's unique structure relies on the complicated skin, which allows the building's floors to span up to 30 meters with no interior supports. The most important element of cybertecture design is going to be how the building's built in systems allow the building to morph over time, using technology to provide interaction and evolution. The Egg is a completely unique building for its complicated shape and structure, which gives us a glimpse of 21st century architecture. Its not a bird, nor a plane it is cybertecture, a term that may soon become an element in future buildings to come.