The California Academy of Sciences, which reopened September 27, 2008, in its new quarters in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, is a showcase for green architecture and design. The new academy features a 2.5-acre living roof covered with native plants and wildflowers.

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano designed the new structure whose environmentally friendly elements have been greeted with acclaim. 

The $488 million academy project was named the North American winner of the silver Holcim Award for Sustainable Construction in September 2005, the same month that the building process began.  The academy also received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's regional 2006 Environmental Award.