The Aquarium of the Pacific’s new Pacific Visions wing has a façade made of 800 light-diffusing glass panels that changes colors throughout the day. The panels, which total 18,000 sf, also act as a ventilated rain screen.
Best yet, the smooth contours make it so that when light hits it just right, the new aquarium wing looks like a whale.
San Francisco architecture firm EHDD designed the addition to the Long Beach, Calif., aquarium. Pacific Visions, which will open in late 2018, will have a 300-seat theater with a 130-by-32-foot-tall screen, curved in a 180 degree arc. The theater will hold performances, panel discussions, community meetings, and educational seminars.
The wing will have a spacious front plaza that doubles as a community gathering space; a 6,000-sf changing exhibit gallery that has live animals and interactive displays; and an art gallery and orientation gallery.
The project cost $53 million and is the second and final phase of the Aquarium of the Pacific’s Campus Master Plan, which was adopted in 2005. The new wing will bring the aquarium’s audience capacity to more than 2 million per year.
“Pacific Visions represents an unprecedented opportunity to help our growing audience examine the vital and changing relationship between humans and the World Ocean and choose paths to make that relationship sustainable,” Dr. Jerry R. Schubel, Aquarium of the Pacific president & CEO, said in a statement. “We want our visitors to leave Pacific Visions feeling more deeply engaged with the living ocean, knowledgeable about the challenges that face it and us, and empowered to make better decisions and share their new understanding with others.”
Related Stories
| Jun 12, 2014
Austrian university develops 'inflatable' concrete dome method
Constructing a concrete dome is a costly process, but this may change soon. A team from the Vienna University of Technology has developed a method that allows concrete domes to form with the use of air and steel cables instead of expensive, timber supporting structures.
| Jun 11, 2014
David Adjaye’s housing project in Sugar Hill nears completion
A new development in New York's historic Sugar Hill district nears completion, designed to be an icon for the neighborhood's rich history.
| Jun 9, 2014
Green Building Initiative launches Green Globes for Sustainable Interiors program
The new program focuses exclusively on the sustainable design and construction of interior spaces in nonresidential buildings and can be pursued by both building owners and individual lessees of commercial spaces.
| Jun 9, 2014
Eli Broad museum files $19.8 million lawsuit over delays
The museum, meant to hold Eli and Edythe Borad's collection of contemporary art, is suing the German company Seele for what the museum describes as delays in the creation of building blocks for its façade.
| Jun 4, 2014
Want to design a Guggenheim? Foundation launches open competition for proposed Helsinki museum
This is the first time the Guggenheim Foundation has sought a design through an open competition. Anonymous submissions for stage one of the competition are due September 10, 2014.
| May 29, 2014
7 cost-effective ways to make U.S. infrastructure more resilient
Moving critical elements to higher ground and designing for longer lifespans are just some of the ways cities and governments can make infrastructure more resilient to natural disasters and climate change, writes Richard Cavallaro, President of Skanska USA Civil.
| May 23, 2014
Big design, small package: AIA Chicago names 2014 Small Project Awards winners
Winning projects include an events center for Mies van der Rohe's landmark Farnsworth House and a new boathouse along the Chicago river.
| May 22, 2014
IKEA to convert original store into company museum
Due to open next year, the museum is expected to attract 200,000 people annually to rural Älmhult, Sweden, home of the first ever IKEA store.
| May 21, 2014
Gehry unveils plan for renovation, expansion of Philadelphia Museum of Art [slideshow]
Gehry's final design reorganizes and expands the building, adding more than 169,000 sf of space, much of it below the iconic structure.
| May 20, 2014
Kinetic Architecture: New book explores innovations in active façades
The book, co-authored by Arup's Russell Fortmeyer, illustrates the various ways architects, consultants, and engineers approach energy and comfort by manipulating air, water, and light through the layers of passive and active building envelope systems.