Kansas City’s new Sobela Ocean Aquarium is a world-class facility home to nearly 8,000 animals in 34 habitats ranging from small tanks to a giant 400,000-gallon shark tank.
The 65,000-sf facility takes visitors from a shallow tropical shore, following a “warm current into the melting pot of the deep ocean, and is carried via a cold current from the depths, through the ocean’s forests, emerging at a cool Pacific coast,” according to a news release.
Exhibit designs by Spacehaus integrate with architectural cues such as changing light quality, spatial variation, and physical descent. The experience augments unique exhibit designs “to engage visitor’s emotions, spark their curiosity, and build in them a passion for the ocean.”
“This project creates that opportunity for all, introducing visitors to our global ocean by using the concept of marine currents as an interpretive framework,” according to lead architect EHDD.
“Despite holding nearly 650,000 gallons of water in total, the aquarium has obtained a LEED silver certification,” says David Dowell, AIA, principal of El Dorado who led the support architecture team. “Some of the sustainability goals include capturing stormwater on site, significantly reducing water and energy use, and maximizing natural light while also bird-safing the structure through fritted glass.”
The aquarium is the first project in the Kansas City area to use CarbonCure technology, which introduces captured CO₂ into fresh concrete to reduce its carbon footprint by 22%.
The aquarium is now the largest building on the zoo campus. It opens to the zoo’s main pedestrian promenade with an image that is welcoming in scale, and warm in materiality. Located in Swope Park in Kansas City, Mo., the Kansas City Zoo & Aquarium, founded in 1909, spans 202 acres and receives about one million visitors per year.
Owner and/or developer: Sobela Ocean Aquarium at the Kansas City Zoo and Aquarium
Design architect: EHDD and El Dorado
MEP engineer: Antella
Structural engineer: Leigh & O'Kane
General contractor/construction manager: JE Dunn
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Oct 3, 2019
Top 110 Cultural Sector Architecture Firms for 2019
Gensler, Populous, DLR Group, Stantec, and Perkins and Will top the rankings of the nation's largest cultural facility sector architecture and architecture engineering (AE) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2019 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 3, 2019
2019 Cultural Facility Giants Report: New libraries are all about community
The future of libraries is less about being quiet and more about hands-on learning and face-to-face interactions. This and more cultural sector trends from BD+C's 2019 Giants 300 Report.
Cultural Facilities | Sep 11, 2019
The Kennedy Center expands for the first time since its 1971 debut
The REACH, with three pavilions on a generous lawn, adds openness and light to this performance space.
Cultural Facilities | Aug 28, 2019
Seattle’s newest substation doubles as a civic amenity
The Denny Substation includes 44,000 sf of open space that invites local residents and visitors to frequent the complex.
Cultural Facilities | Aug 23, 2019
Snøhetta to design Shanghai Grand Opera House
The Opera House is part of a new urban master plan for Shanghai.
Cultural Facilities | Aug 19, 2019
Tanglewood in the Berkshires is now a year-round facility
It recently debuted three climate-controlled event spaces and an indoor-outdoor café
Cultural Facilities | Jul 15, 2019
Steven Holl Architects and Architecture Acts to design Ostrava Concert Hall in the Czech Republic
Their winning proposal was supported by six of the seven members of the jury.
Cultural Facilities | Jul 11, 2019
BIG’s MÉCA combines three regional art agencies into one loop
The project gives Bordeaux an art-filled public space from the waterfront to the city’s new urban room.
Cultural Facilities | Jul 1, 2019
MAD Architects' proposal for the Yiwu Grand Theater will be built on the Dongyang River
MAD beat out four other proposals for the opportunity to design the theater.
Multifamily Housing | Jun 27, 2019
David Baker Architects wins 2019 HUD 'best in affordable housing' honor
The firm's Williams Terrace project is the first dedicated housing for Charleston, S.C.’s low-income seniors. It's one of four developments to win 2019 AIA/HUD housing awards.
