An immersive experience featuring a living collection of plants and animals

Key Features

An experience that offers a comfortable way to experience a rainforest

Living exhibits integrated into the architecture of the space

Up-close interactions with incredible plants and animals

The Need

The California Academy of Sciences wanted to tell the essential story elements of their rainforest exhibition experience, while providing a home for their collection of 1,600+ live plants and animals. They also wanted an immersive design that ties together the story of a rainforest’s interconnected habitat, all crafted within an architectural glass sphere designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop.

Our Approach

Through careful study, the design team identified the essential elements of a rainforest and developed a plan to organize the exhibits within the unique architectural space. The first half of the experience contains the living rainforest, showcasing the vertical habitat where visitors ascend from forest floor to canopy understory. Guests then take an elevator that descends beneath the forest floor to an immersive aquarium containing a recreation of the flooded Amazon rainforest. By using a series of gently sloping ramps and an elevator, the experience is a leisurely, comfortable, and accessible stroll.