California Academy of Sciences - The Story of a Living Building

Oct 28, 2025
12 mins

Episode Description

After the 1989 earthquake left the California Academy of Sciences in ruins, San Francisco faced a choice: rebuild what was lost, or imagine something entirely new.

What emerged was one of the most sustainable museums ever created — a living, breathing building by Renzo Piano, where science and architecture merge beneath a rolling green roof.

In this episode, we explore how an earthquake, a vision, and a radical architect turned disaster into rebirth, and created a museum that became part of the natural world itself.

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