Head North: Renzo Piano's Academy of Sciences Opening

A project that sister Curbed SF has dutifully been tracking, architect Renzo Piano's California Academy of Sciences will open this Saturday, an event which has the Los Angeles Times offering travel advice and blog Inhabitat getting sneak peeks. Calling it the "crowning achievement of sustainable architecture," Inhabitat notes the project will house 38,000 live animals, an aquarium, a natural history museum, a living rainforest, a planetarium, and many, many, excited visitors. Sign. And it's worth checking out all of Inhabitat's photos. But for anyone feeling jealous, a reminder that more Piano designs for LA are forthcoming: The architect is doing a second structure at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Probably too late to ask for a grass roof and 10,000 geckos.
· Green California Academy of Sciences Unveiled [Inhabitat]
· Greener Than Thou: Renzo Joins the Fire Department [Curbed SF]
· San Francisco: New California Academy of Sciences opens Sept. 27 [LA Times]