California Academy of Sciences photo: Tom Fox
As a part of the Landscape Architecture firm for the new California Academy of Sciences Building in San Francisco, SWA Group, I wanted to share one of lesser known successes of the 2.5 acre Vegetated/Living Roof. This success is the creation of a native landscape habitat within the Golden Gate Park, located three stories above the ground plane. The Academy’s roof is planted with native plants which separates the native plantings from the non-native plantings of the park below. Since the installation of native species, the roof has begun to naturalize with native insects, bird habitats, and non-planted plants that have migrated to their preferred location on the roof. Researchers have been finding that there are more native insect species on the roof than in the surrounding park below, and that this may be attributed to the use of native plant material on the roof, according to researchers. The roof has created a native refuge that will allow the seven hill topped roof to continue grow and evolve into a native California hillside.
Along with the creation of the native habitat, the roof structure is also collecting water that falls on the roof, including the water irrigation runoff in addition to precipitation. The roof’s water run off is directed to a recharge chamber located under the building that then recharges the aquifers within Golden Gate Park. These aquifers also supply the park with its own irrigation water, which irrigates the entire park including the Academy Building. So rainfall and supplemental irrigation that the roof’s plants cannot use, and would otherwise go into a storm drain, now go into the recharging of the natural aquifers and can be used again to keep the roof alive. The roof acts as a successful and symbiotic living part of its environment that functions as a part of its own healthy habitat by providing animal and plant habitats while also aiding in the site’s hydrological process of aquifer recharge. The roof of this great building is proving truly to be a Living System.
SWA Group Project Team: John Loomis, Laurence Reed, and Zachary Davis
Photography by Tom Fox
Bird's-eye view photo: Tom Fox
Viewing platform on living roof photo: Tom Fox
Living roof detail photo: Tom Fox
On top of living roof, looking at DeYoung Museum photo: Tom Fox
Travis Theobald is an Associate at SWA Group, a world renown landscape architecture, planning, and urban design firm.