Editing Renzo Piano (section)

===California Academy of Sciences renovation and extension, San Francisco (2000–2008)===
In 1989, after their old museum buildings were damaged by an earthquake, the trustees of the [[California Academy of Sciences]] decided to rebuild their entire complex of twelve buildings, including an aquarium, planetarium, and a museum of Natural History, located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Piano's plan called for "a group of volumes under a single roof, a little like a village." The roof itself, 1.5 hectares in area, was covered with vegetation, and blends with the surrounding park. The facade of the building also harmonizes smoothly with the nearby turn-of-the-century greenhouse that is a landmark of the Park. Three cupolas resemble shallow hills across the roof, pierced by round portholes to admit natural light; they contain the entry hall, a botanical garden, and a planetarium.{{Sfn|Jodidio|2016|pages=67–69}} Piano's design for the new building was described by the ''New York Times'' as a  "comforting reminder of the civilizing function of great art in a barbaric age".<ref>{{cite news |author=Ouroussof, Nicolai |title=A Building That Blooms and Grows, Balancing Nature and Civilization |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/arts/design/24acad.html |date=23 September 2008 |work=The New York Times |access-date=15 May 2014}}</ref>