Share this Post
About This Project
The California Academy of Sciences (CAS) is one of the largest natural history museums in the world. Located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, it was founded in 1853 as a learned society, and it continues to be a hub for original research, innovative education, and dynamic exhibits.
During the museum’s rebuild in 2007–2008, the designer was approached by Pentagram—the world’s largest independent design firm—to consult on creating the museum’s new exterior signage in concrete. Impressed with the designer’s approach to artistry and materials, Pentagram later brought the team’s focus inside to develop a secondary donor wall display—one that would honor the institution’s supporters while reflecting the Academy’s legacy.
Concept and Inspiration
The designer wanted to create a “landscape” with multiple dimensions that was subtle on the one hand so that you’d be able to read the donor names, but then captured the spirit of CAS as an institution of, and tribute to, science, art and nature—and that’s why the Golden Mean and the Fibonacci series is central to the concept because rare are the phenomena found across science, art and nature.
To tell that story of ideal proportions, I inlaid a rare, giant ammonite within a square that rises up, like a mesa, from the concrete landscape to meet the surface of the glass. From there, the visual stories spiral out from the energy of the ammonite and the golden ratio.
In one corner, the designer and team recreated the undulating topography of the Academy’s living roof, which represents the seven hills of San Francisco. That was interesting, getting the images from Google and then using them to translate them into the fabric form for the concrete. The entire wall represents the Academy and aspects of the geological, planetary—earth- and moon-like—even astrological, and just a touch of levity thrown in for fun.
Embedded Materials and Details
There are pyrites in the bottom left corner that look like an overhead view of architectural forms—they’re mineral crystals embedded in the earth representing the Academy’s work in earth sciences, geology, and biology. There are embedded stones and fossils, but more interestingly, there’s a vortex-like recessed area that reminds me of a moonscape. In the base, there’s a car valve body cover and a mosaic of chrysoprase that the designer cobbled together to create a streak of bold color against the amber concrete. Some areas are polished down to expose aggregates and decorative stone, and others are less so, all to enhance the color and texture.