Valentina Expressions

Last week, one of my follower blogger challenged his audience to find some hidden photographs in our computers.
This is my contribution to photographer Jeff Sinon Sunday’s Hidden Treasure:
http://jeffsinonphotography.wordpress.com/2012/11/04/sundays-hidden-treasure/

I found some pleasant memories in my computer photo archive of my visit to the Science Museum in San Francisco when it was just opened a couple of years ago. Renzo Piano, a modern genius Italian architect designed the building and of course I am very fond of his work.

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(All photos were taken inside the Museum of Science in San Francisco, CA by ©Valentina Cirasola and are her property)

The building is rooted in a mixture of Classical Greek and Modernism architecture.
A glass lobby allows the visitors to look steadily with curiosity or wander through the building and even see the park on the other side in the distance.

The building with the columns framing a central entry presents a classical symmetry echoing the Greek Parthenon, but the modern construction material used such as the green roof, glass walls and windows that let air escape and create a gentle breeze, are very much inline with the modernism movement of Mies van der Rohe of the early 20^th century.

I saw the entire building as a sort of giant specimen case, fauna and flora sharing large exhibition spaces with their own microclimates. Particularly interesting was the vertical garden, which gave me many ideas for my future work designing landscaping for my client.

In the African Hall, I leaned how penguins get fed, a very amusing spectacle and I photographed these beautiful zebras. Too bad they ended up this way, but if they had not been there, I would have never known what a zebra looks like in life.

In one area of the Museum a giant overhead aquarium shaped in an archway surprised the visitors. All kind of fish swim together, I wonder if they know they are on display with no way out. The cat-fish I photographed looks very much made of metal to me. The peaceful lizard, frog and butterfly were kept in a tropical temperature area and boy it  was hot!!!

Green roofs serve several purposes for a building, such as absorbing rainwater, providing insulation, creating a habitat for wildlife, helping to lower urban air temperatures and mitigate the heat as in an island effect. That was the last stop of my visit of the Science Museum, it was very windy up there, but then San Francisco would not be San Francisco if it didn’t have the wind and the fog.

Among a few examples of Renzo Piano’s major work, please admire:
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (1971–77)
Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, United States (1982–87)
Stadio San Nicola, Bari, Italy (1988–89)
International Terminal, Kansai International Airport, Osaka, Japan (1991–94)
NEMO science museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (1997)
Beyeler Foundation Museum, Basel, Switzerland (1991–97)
Ferrari wind tunnel, Maranello, Italy (1996–98)
Maison Hermès, Tokyo, Japan (2001)
Parco della Musica, Rome, Italy (2002)
Padre Pio Pilgrimage Church, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy (2004)
High Museum of Art Expansion, Atlanta, United States (2005)

Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.Valentinadesigns.com

Copyright © 2012 Valentina Cirasola, All Rights Reserved

Valentina Cirasola is a trained interior designer 
in business since 1990. She is the owner and principal designer of her company: Valentina Interiors & Designs. Being Italian born and raised, Valentina’s design work has been influenced by Classicism and timeless style. She will create your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living. Check out her books on
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