While perusing the Chronicle over the weekend, I noticed this intriguing article about the not-yet-open California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. Before they closed a few years ago, the Academy was one of my favorite places to while away a few hours. Packed with preserved animals and compelling exhibits, it always made my science-loving heart go pitter-patter.
Now I have one more reason to anticipate its re-opening next year: a living roof. While the old Academy rooftop was simply a guard against the elements, the new rooftop will combine gardens, walkways and solar panels to become an integral part of the new building. According to the article, the roof's plants will attract butterflies, bumblebees and hummingbirds. It will grow poppies and lupine and beach strawberries.
Do you think they'll let me pitch a tent?
I forgot to mention, in my post on Quixote Winery, that their roof is also alive. From my spot on the ground, I didn't have enough altitude to capture the waving grasses that grace the rooftop, so you'll have to trust me that just behind those bricks, tufty green things are swaying in the breeze.
I can't imagine that the living roof will hit the mainstream anytime soon, what with the necessary complications of adequate structural supports and drainage issues, but still: it's a pretty thought to imagine looking down from an airplane to see buildings with living tops, of previously blank roofs transformed into fields of poppies opening their orange faces to the sun.
