On September 27, 2008, the California Academy of Sciences, the oldest scientific institution in the West, begins the next chapter of its storied life. That is opening day for the new, state-of-the-art building, designed by architect Renzo Piano, in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. It holds four intertwined components under its living roof: a museum, planetarium, research center, and aquarium.

Although the research activities are the least well known to the public, they formed the genesis of the institution and gave rise to the Academy’s name. In the midst of the Gold Rush, several individuals, excited by their physical surroundings and all the new animal and plant species there, came together to organize and record their discoveries. Soon afterwards a “museum” began with a cabinet of curiosities in a back office.

During the 19th century, many of the leading scientists who came through San Francisco were associated with the Academy: geologist Josiah Whitney, surveyor and astronomer George Davidson, ichthyologist and first Stanford president David Starr Jordan, and proto-environmentalist John Muir, who began the Sierra Club under its roof.

As the organization grew, it moved from place to place until real estate tycoon James Lick provided impressive accommodations at 833 Market Street. It was a beautiful setting, dominated by a staircase, wrought-iron galleries, and a stuffed mastodon. Unfortunately, at 5:12 a.m. on April 17, 1906, it all came to a crashing end. The Great Earthquake reduced the building to rubble, while its precious collections were all but destroyed in the subsequent fire.

As the trustees cast about looking for a place to rebuild, the Academy’s most famous curator, botanist Alice Eastwood, prevailed upon Golden Gate Park Superintendent John McLaren, who generally disliked the idea of buildings in his park, to allow the new Academy to be rebuilt in his domain.

The Beaux-Arts Halls of Mammals and Birds opened in 1916; the more classical Steinhart Aquarium came seven years later. It was the dream of Sigmund Steinhart, who provided the initial funds, and his brother Ignatz, who set the process in motion. Both brothers died before the building’s completion. Under the terms of their wills, the aquarium had to be a part of the Academy, with operating costs paid by the City of San Francisco. The annual allocation was $20,000. (The City now contributes around $4 million a year.) For a time, before the Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937, the Academy, and especially the aquarium, was the most popular attraction in town. Over the next 70 years, every child within a 50-mile radius of San Francisco visited at least once on a school excursion.

As the Academy expanded, a further nine buildings were grafted on to the earlier structures. But the years took their toll. The saltwater pipes corroded, the roof leaked, and the ventilation system put the aromatic bone preparation room too close to the store. Visitors complained. Moreover, the buildings were still too small. When the size of its footprint permitted by the City was maxed out, there still wasn’t enough room for the Academy’s collections. As other facilities throughout the West, especially universities’ biology departments, changed their priorities to focus on molecular structures of species rather than their morphology, collection rooms became laboratories, and many of their acquisitions--butterflies, skeletons, artifacts--were transferred to the Academy.

Then, in 1989, came yet another earthquake. Although damage to the Academy was minimal, with only the North American Bird Hall put out of commission, repercussions from the Loma Prieta earthquake ultimately led to the new building.

A bond measure to repair the Steinhart Aquarium was passed in 1995, but with plans still on the table and the money not yet spent, Mayor Willie Brown suggested another bond issue to cover all the other structural problems. The two propositions together, plus funds from a state bond to improve parks and cultural institutions, would total $130 million. People began to dream.

Even before city voters passed the second proposition, the Academy’s Board of Trustees was writing to some of the world’s major architects to ask if they would be interested in the opportunity to create a new building. They were, and six of them came a-calling. Immediately, one stood out above the rest. While most arrived with provisional plans, when Renzo Piano came into the boardroom, “the first thing he did,” says Patrick Kociolek, executive director at the time, “was to take the chairs out of the rows and rearrange them in a circle. Then, after everyone was sat down, he asked: ‘What do you want?’”

They wanted it beautiful, they wanted it green, they wanted it exciting. What they wanted was a building that exemplified the mission of the Academy--to explore, explain, and (recently added) protect--the natural world. Finally, conservation, which had been conspicuously absent from the Academy’s stated goals, was a byword.

Although the Steinhart has been overshadowed in recent years by the better-funded Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA), it is still the grande dame, the oldest grand municipal aquarium. While the mission of the MBA is to focus on the life in Monterey Bay and its nearby deepwater canyon, the Steinhart displays marine life from all over the world. Like the MBA, it has a history of extraordinary innovation: the “roundabout” that provided a viable home for pelagic fish that can’t survive in tanks with impeding walls; breeding programs that helped sustain rare species of seahorses and the winter-run Chinook salmon; a healthy, live coral reef exhibit; and some of the first solar collectors to warm tropical fish tanks. In its new iteration, it will rival every aquarium in the nation.

The imposing columns at the entrance to the new Steinhart capture the essence of the old structure, at the same geographical point. Behind these columns and the arching vault they support is a rebuilt swamp exhibit with seahorse railings, where slow-moving alligators (including an albino) again reside. These familiar features have been recreated much as they were, in homage to history or, in Piano’s words, “the memory.” Anyone who visited the old aquarium will immediately feel at home.

But there any resemblance to the old Steinhart ends. Like an octopus with outstretched tentacles, the aquarium--that is, all the live exhibits--reaches out to every corner of the new museum, and occupies half the public space. When you descend the stairs adjacent to the swamp, those familiar with the old Steinhart are in “for an enormous surprise,” says Chris Andrews, the aquarium’s director. You immediately enter the 5,000-square-foot Water Planet exhibit, with over 100 tanks, none of them rectilinear. There are more than 900 species throughout the building, and many of them are here--leafy sea dragons, Gila monsters, jellyfish, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates. The theme, “Water Is Life,” considers the importance of water to all life, and what it takes to live in and around water, hot or cold, salt or fresh. How do the animals breathe, feed, reproduce, hide, communicate? Once an hour, the lights dim, and a movie on the importance of water is projected on the walls.

Next to the Water Planet is the 212,000-gallon, 25-foot deep Philippine Coral Reef--the deepest exhibit of live corals anywhere. The corals in this reef have been growing for four years in the Academy’s temporary accommodations downtown. It will be years before the reef is mature, but the many species of hard and soft coral are off to a healthy start. Black-tipped reef sharks, stingrays, sea turtles, and over 4,000 reef fish swim among the coral. All are either captive-bred or have been taken from sustainable wild sources. Besides establishing a delicate mix of chemicals that accurately reflect a natural reef, the secret to successful coral husbandry is light. Corals need an abundant supply, so the natural light from the open plaza is supplemented by 120 metal halide lamps that emit wavelengths ideal for photosynthesis.

Cameras built into the tanks, magnifiers, and video footage bring the action even closer, while in-tank volunteer divers will make frequent presentations, interacting with viewers and answering questions. The designers feel that this mixture of live animals and interactive technology will resonate with a new generation of visitors who are harder to impress than their parents.

The most celebrated aspect of the new Academy building is its undulating “green” roof, planted with native plants, whose seven domes mirror the seven hills of San Francisco and blend with the hills of the park. The two dominant domes top the planetarium and the rainforest exhibit, respectively. The coral reef anchors the planetarium dome, while the basement beneath the other dome holds the California Coast exhibit and an Amazonian flooded forest. The first, dominated by a 100,000-gallon tank, depicts the ecosystem around the Farallon Islands. Fish, invertebrates, and seaweed there are in constant motion, thanks to a wave-surge system simulating the natural movements of the waters in which these life forms flourish.

The visitor then enters a tunnel beneath the Amazonian forest, the bottom of the multilevel Rainforest of the World exhibit. Arapaima, giant catfish, vegetarian piranhas, and even the tiny tetras that swam in separate tanks in the old Steinhart now have a habitat their ancestors might recognize.

To enter the rest of the rainforest exhibit, you go up the main floor, venture through an airlock, and immerse yourself in an enclosure kept at 80 degrees Fahrenheit and 75 percent humidity. It’s hot in there. As you ascend the gently sloping ramp, you pass through the Borneo rainforest floor, the Madagascar understory, and the Costa Rica canopy. Alongside the live plants of what will one day become a mature forest, each geographical niche has its own suite of animals. Among them are flying lizards, gliding frogs, bats, and a reticulated python on the floor; colorful frogs, geckos, and chameleons in the understory; and free-flying birds and butterflies in the brightly-lit canopy.

An elevator ride brings you back down to the main floor where there is still much to see. Live animal displays are spread out in each exhibit and even in the cafe. The most popular is likely to be the penguin display, which has displaced the waterhole in the African Hall--these black-footed penguins do come from Africa, or at least their forebears did. Almost all penguins in captivity belong to this species, and aquariums and zoos pass them amongst each other to keep their gene pool healthy. Those at the Steinhart are lucky, as this is a good-sized tank with simulated wave action, 50-degree water, and a rapid filtration system. Moreover, the penguins may soon not be alone. Some species of fish and marine invertebrates may be added to help create a more natural setting.

The aquarium uses natural processes wherever possible. Natural systems cleanse nitrate wastes, so that the water can be recycled through miles of pipes. Saltwater, piped underground from the Pacific four miles away, is passed through sand and carbon filters before it enters the tanks. The pH value and chemical content in each tank is adjusted to replicate the environments in which the animals have evolved. Solar cells built into the canopy that surrounds the roof play a large part in the heating system.

Throughout all the exhibits are frequent references to the necessity for conserving all natural environments and the whole marine ecosystem in particular. “There is a strong conservation message,” says Andrews, “but you don’t get hit with a two-by-four.” Some of the graphics are designed to plant the seeds, and the staff, interns, and docents provide reinforcement.

The actual conservation programs will be done mostly in partnership with other organizations. The Academy has signed a contract with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help save the endangered tidewater goby. This tiny fish is found in the brackish estuaries of northern California. Its life cycle lasts only 12 months, and every year scientists worry that it may disappear.

Joint captive breeding programs of freshwater fishes--cichlids, rainbow fish, killy fish--and frogs that face extinction from habitat degradation have been established in conjunction with institutions in Madagascar, with which Academy staff have a long association. Under the guidance of Steinhart aquarists, these animals will be bred both at the aquarium and in their native country.

“Attract, intrigue, inform, involve” is the Academy’s motto. How far along this ladder each visitor climbs will vary, but if the Steinhart achieves its purpose, many will reach the top and come back as volunteers or move on to assist similar organizations with their conservation goals. Although most visitors will come to the Academy and aquarium looking for enjoyment, the Steinhart staff hopes that they will leave motivated to help protect our aquatic world. As the Water Planet display tells us, water is life.

Keith Howell was the editor of the Academy of Sciences magazine, California Wild (formerly Pacific Discovery) for 15 years, until 2005, shortly before it was discontinued. He is now a freelance writer and editor.

To purchase tickets to the Academy, and for information on prices, schedules, and programs, see www.calacademy.org, or call (415) 379-8000.