The National Aquarium in Baltimore has opened the National Aquarium Harbor Wetland, a 10,000-sf floating wetland that mimics the Inner Harbor’s original Chesapeake Bay tidal marsh habitat. Located between Piers 3 and 4 on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, the $14 million project features more than 32,000 native shrubs and marsh grasses.
With Ayers Saint Gross as the architect of record and Whiting-Turner as the construction contractor, the project is based on sustainable innovations developed by the Aquarium’s conservation and exhibit fabrication teams. At the project’s start about a decade ago, Studio Gang participated as the original concept architects.
“Harbor Wetland is the culmination of 12 years of research, innovation, and determination,” Aquarium president and CEO John Racanelli said in a press statement.
Ayers Saint Gross worked with the National Aquarium to design a sustainable, high-performing floating wetland intended to restore natural habitats and improve biodiversity and water quality. The project aims to reverse years of environmental degradation while creating a renewed, thriving ecosystem. The design features layered topography, with planting surfaces at tiered elevations to promote a variety of microhabitats and attract a greater diversity of species to the area.
![Photo: Philip Smith, National Aquarium](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Baltimore%E2%80%99s%20National%20Aquarium%20opens%2010%2C000-sf%20floating%20wetland%20that%20mimics%20the%20harbor%E2%80%99s%20original%20tidal%20marsh%20habitat_Completed-0007.jpg)
Free and open to the public, the constructed wetland serves as a floating classroom for the community. Interpretive signage allows guests to learn about the wetland, the species drawn to it, seasonal changes, and the surrounding harbor.
Featuring docks, walkways, and shade cover, the habitat is composed of recycled plastic matting planted with native tidal wetland shrubs and grasses, whose roots will grow down into the water. This provides microhabitats for native species while drawing nutrients and contaminants from the water. Coated with a UV protectant for durability, the matting is fixed to a system of air-regulated pontoons that allow for adjustable buoyancy of the wetland, offsetting weight gain from growing biomass.
Compressed air is pumped into the channel to circulate water through the wetland’s shallow channel. Bubbles from the compressed air release oxygen into the water—benefiting aquatic species and keeping water moving through the wetland as it would during tidal changes in a natural tidal marsh.
“We hear so much negative talk about Inner Harbor water quality, but there is life in this water and there always has been,” Jack Cover, the Aquarium’s general curator, said in the statement. “My hope is that when people see the life this wetland attracts, from tiny microorganisms to fishes, crabs, water birds, and even small mammals like muskrats and otters—all of which we’re already seeing here—they might reconsider our local waterways and perhaps even take better care of our natural surroundings.”
![Photo: Philip Smith, National Aquarium](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Baltimore%E2%80%99s%20National%20Aquarium%20opens%2010%2C000-sf%20floating%20wetland%20that%20mimics%20the%20harbor%E2%80%99s%20original%20tidal%20marsh%20habitat%20Exhibits_HW_Mural-0022.jpg)
![Baltimore’s National Aquarium opens 10,000-sf floating wetland that mimics the harbor’s original tidal marsh habitat. Photo: Philip Smith, National Aquarium](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Baltimore%E2%80%99s%20National%20Aquarium%20opens%2010%2C000-sf%20floating%20wetland%20that%20mimics%20the%20harbor%E2%80%99s%20original%20tidal%20marsh%20habitat_Completed-0003.jpg)
![Baltimore’s National Aquarium opens 10,000-sf floating wetland that mimics the harbor’s original tidal marsh habitat. Photo: Philip Smith, National Aquarium](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Baltimore%E2%80%99s%20National%20Aquarium%20opens%2010%2C000-sf%20floating%20wetland%20that%20mimics%20the%20harbor%E2%80%99s%20original%20tidal%20marsh%20habitat_Completed-0006.jpg)
![Baltimore’s National Aquarium opens 10,000-sf floating wetland that mimics the harbor’s original tidal marsh habitat. Photo: Philip Smith, National Aquarium](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Baltimore%E2%80%99s%20National%20Aquarium%20opens%2010%2C000-sf%20floating%20wetland%20that%20mimics%20the%20harbor%E2%80%99s%20original%20tidal%20marsh%20habitat_Completed-0007_0.jpg)
![Baltimore’s National Aquarium opens 10,000-sf floating wetland that mimics the harbor’s original tidal marsh habitat. Photo: Philip Smith, National Aquarium](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Baltimore%E2%80%99s%20National%20Aquarium%20opens%2010%2C000-sf%20floating%20wetland%20that%20mimics%20the%20harbor%E2%80%99s%20original%20tidal%20marsh%20habitat_Completed-0014.jpg)
![Baltimore’s National Aquarium opens 10,000-sf floating wetland that mimics the harbor’s original tidal marsh habitat. Photo: Philip Smith, National Aquarium](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Baltimore%E2%80%99s%20National%20Aquarium%20opens%2010%2C000-sf%20floating%20wetland%20that%20mimics%20the%20harbor%E2%80%99s%20original%20tidal%20marsh%20habitat-0001.jpg)
![Baltimore’s National Aquarium opens 10,000-sf floating wetland that mimics the harbor’s original tidal marsh habitat. Photo: Philip Smith, National Aquarium](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Baltimore%E2%80%99s%20National%20Aquarium%20opens%2010%2C000-sf%20floating%20wetland%20that%20mimics%20the%20harbor%E2%80%99s%20original%20tidal%20marsh%20habitat-0004.jpg)
![Baltimore’s National Aquarium opens 10,000-sf floating wetland that mimics the harbor’s original tidal marsh habitat. Photo: Philip Smith, National Aquarium](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Baltimore%E2%80%99s%20National%20Aquarium%20opens%2010%2C000-sf%20floating%20wetland%20that%20mimics%20the%20harbor%E2%80%99s%20original%20tidal%20marsh%20habitat-0008.jpg)
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Harvard Public Library
Harvard, Mass.
Five years ago, the town of Harvard, Mass., which lies about 30 miles west of Boston, faced two problems. First, its iconic public schoolhouse, known as Old Bromfield, which was built in 1877, had become outdated. So, too, had its public library, which had no room to grow on its site.
| Aug 11, 2010
Gilbane, Whiting-Turner among nation's largest university contractors, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 50 University Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit /giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Rafael Vinoly-designed East Wing opens at Cleveland Museum of Art
Rafael Vinoly Architects has designed the new East Wing at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA), Ohio, which opened to the public on June 27, 2009. Its completion marks the opening of the first of three planned wings.
| Aug 11, 2010
World-Class Revival on Utah’s Capitol Hill
Since 1916, the Utah State Capitol building has served as the foundation of Utah’s government, housing the state legislature operations as well as the offices of the governor, attorney general, and treasurer. But after decades of wear and tear and numerous short-sighted modernization attempts, Utah’s rock was on the verge of crumbling.
| Aug 11, 2010
IFMA announces new Religious Facilities Community of practice
The International Facility Management Association is pleased to announce the formation of the Religious Facilities Community, a new community of practice devoted to those who work as full-time, part-time or volunteer facility managers in their houses of worship. IFMA’s communities of practice are organized special interest groups that unite members of specific industries not represented by the association’s councils.
| Aug 11, 2010
AASHE releases annual review of sustainability in higher education
The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) has announced the release of AASHE Digest 2008, which documents the continued rapid growth of campus sustainability in the U.S. and Canada. The 356-page report, available as a free download on the AASHE website, includes over 1,350 stories that appeared in the weekly AASHE Bulletin last year.
| Aug 11, 2010
Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council Program Place Project
Houston, Texas
The Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council Program Place is the headquarters for the largest Girl Scout Council in the U.S., with 63,000 scouts. The building houses the council’s administrative offices, a Girl Scout museum, and activity space. When an adjacent two-story office building became available, the council jumped at the chance to expand its museum and program space.