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
| May 2, 2013
First look: UC-Davis art museum by SO-IL and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
The University of California, Davis has selected emerging New York-based practice SO-IL to design a new campus’ art museum, which is envisioned to be a “regional center of experimentation, participation and learning.”
| Apr 30, 2013
Tips for designing with fire rated glass - AIA/CES course
Kate Steel of Steel Consulting Services offers tips and advice for choosing the correct code-compliant glazing product for every fire-rated application. This BD+C University class is worth 1.0 AIA LU/HSW.
| Apr 26, 2013
Documentary shows 'starchitects' competing for museum project
"The Competition," a new documentary produced by Angel Borrego Cuberto of Madrid, focuses on the efforts of five 'starchitects' to capture the design contract for the new National Museum of Art of Andorra: a small country in the Pyrenees between Spain and France.
| Apr 24, 2013
Los Angeles may add cool roofs to its building code
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants cool roofs added to the city’s building code. He is also asking the Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to create incentives that make it financially attractive for homeowners to install cool roofs.
| Apr 23, 2013
Architects to MoMA: Don't destroy Williams/Tsien project
Richard Meier, Thom Mayne, Steven Holl, Hugh Hardy and Robert A.M. Stern are among the prominent architects who on Monday called for the Museum of Modern Art to reconsider its decision to demolish the former home of the American Folk Art Museum.
| Apr 17, 2013
First look: Renzo Piano's glass-domed motion pictures museum
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences last week released preliminary plans for its $300 million Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences museum in Los Angeles, designed by Renzo Piano and local architect Zoltan Pali.
| Apr 11, 2013
American Folk Art Museum, opened in 2001, to be demolished
Just 12 years old, the museum designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien will be taken down to make way for MoMA expansion.
| Apr 2, 2013
6 lobby design tips
If you do hotels, schools, student unions, office buildings, performing arts centers, transportation facilities, or any structure with a lobby, here are six principles from healthcare lobby design that make for happier users—and more satisfied owners.
| Mar 22, 2013
8 cool cultural projects in the works
A soaring opera center in Hong Kong and a multi-tower music center in Calgary are among the latest cultural projects.
| Mar 15, 2013
AIA opposes House bill cutting Eisenhower Memorial funding
AIA opposes House bill cutting Eisenhower Memorial funding.