The New Academy goes up on the same site of the former California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The design required the demolition of eleven existing structures, built between 1916 and 1991, damaged during the earthquake of 1989, to raise a modern institution for the organization of exhibition, education, preservation and research activities; all of them gathered under one same roof and following sustainable design strategies. To achieve this, natural ventilation will replace air conditioning in most of the building, there will be a careful selection of materials and an efficient use and reuse of water, as well as the generation of energy.

Three historic elements of the Academy (the African and North American halls, as well as the entrance to Steinhart Aquarium) will be maintained as a memory of the past, becoming part of the complex. On the other hand, the research activities and the storage areas of the scientific collection will face the park, while the public areas and the exhibition halls will be organized around a central piazza on ground floor, the roof of which will include the different functions underneath its undulating form.