Nature preserve on the Yangtze River will restore biodiversity to a polluted area

Located on an island at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the Shanghai Yangtze River Estuary Chinese Sturgeon Nature Preserve will be a 427,000-sf facility comprising a dual-function aquarium and research facility. The project will help rescue critically endangered species and restore biodiversity to a habitat plagued by pollution.

The facility will include a series of interior and exterior pools for breeding and raising both Chinese sturgeon and finless porpoises. The pools will mimic the species’ natural migration into waters of varying size and salinity. There will also be dedicated facilities for research and to assist with reintegration to the animals’ natural habitat. The work being done will be visible to visitors through an immersive aquarium and exhibit experience.

interior aquarium space

The facility’s design will feature undulating forms inspired by the rippling surface of the adjacent river and the landscape of the Upper Yangtze. Curving wooden structural ribs surround a central spine that joins the building’s three wings. A lightweight enclosure system is clad in translucent PTFE to allow natural daylight into the interior.

Aerial view of Yangtze Sturgeon facility

Other sustainable design strategies include a cross-laminated timber structural system, geothermal heating and cooling loops, and constructed wetlands of local flora and waterborne plants for rapid carbon sequestration and a process of biofiltration for aquarium water.

Suspended walkways and viewing areas will cross the campus and allow visitors to immerse themselves in the landscape design that reconstructs the shoreline system and the variety of ecoregions throughout the Yangtze River basin.

Interior exterior aquarium area

Interior aquarium space designed by Ennead Architects

Interior research space

Exterior Yangtze aquarium view

Click for larger image.

LPA Architects conducted a post-occupancy evaluation, or POE, of the eSTEM Academy, a new high school specializing in health/medical and design/engineering Career Technical Education, in Eastvale, Calif. The POE helped LPA, the Riverside County Office of Education, and the Corona-Norco Unified School District gain a better understanding of which design innovations—such as movable walls, flex furniture, collaborative spaces, indoor-outdoor activity areas, and a student union—enhanced the education program, and how well students and teachers used these innovations.

Resiliency | Jun 24, 2021

Oceanographer John Englander talks resiliency and buildings [new on HorizonTV]

New on HorizonTV, oceanographer John Englander discusses his latest book, which warns that, regardless of resilience efforts, sea levels will rise by meters in the coming decades. Adaptation, he says, is the key to future building design and construction.