The ocean pavilion, the latest addition to the Seattle Aquarium on the city's developing promenade of the city, approached immediately forced to re -improve. Here, on the covered place at the doorstep of the pavilion, visitors get a view of the largest sea habitat in the building, the reef, without paying inside and without the admission price. Through the round, curved acrylic oculus -Ooverhead, passers -by who are familiar with the spotte eagle rays, leopard sharks and colorful fish are gained.
This term to break the typical “Black Box” aquarium form, in which illuminated sea habitats interrupt pitch -black interior exhibition rooms, was for the Ocean Pavilion Design, which was led by LMN and New York, exhibition designer Thinc design. It was a central design to create glazed openings in unexpected places on the building itself and in the tanks inside. “Connection of habitat openings and the construction of openings was a way to connect the Indo-Pacific exhibits inside with the Salish Sea directly outside” A. “We try to draw the visitor to the fact that your actions here at home in this part of the world also influence the other side of the ocean.”
Since the 50,000 square meter ocean pavilion contains so many glazed openings with a view of the city and the waterfront on the south and west facades, it was essential that the habitats are not impaired by light penetration. Covering sunlight, which penetrates into the habitats of aquariums, can lead to excess algae growth and visual glare. In addition to the use of geometry to ensure that the habitat windows were far enough away from the building windows, the designers have included partial wing walls around the main tour of the riff's oculus to protect it from daylight. The walls have the additional advantage that a protected, vestibular feeling for the viewing area is created.
“This main view of the reef is even more majestic than we have dared hope” [than the CAS window]But we were stunned about how much difference he made to be immersive. “
Using 3D visualizations, Thinc refrigeration indices was able to include both from the acrylic and the water itself in order to determine the exact curve of the acrylic on each of the habitat openings. The curves of the panel prevents distortions that would occur with a flat piece of acrylic and helps to expand the view into the tank. “If there is more of your peripheral vision, you feel more immersed in the view,” added Hennes.
In the entire ocean pavilion, the 28 acrylic living space openings vary in the thickness, depending on the hydrostatic pressure, which weighs with each opening. “We develop the shape of the inner surface of the acrylic, and the manufacturer creates the engineering to determine the thickness and removal of the acrylic to achieve the opening to ensure that the edges are not visible,” said James Pase, Senior Exhibition Designer at Thinc.
For the largest life window of the Ocean Pavilion, the main view of the reef, which measures 25 feet 33 feet, the acrylic manufacturer Reynold's polymer produced four single 8-inch thickness acrylic panels, which were chemically connected in his factory in Colorado. “We did not want joints to be put together in the field, partly because it would require a large silicone joint, which means that the seam dissolves this great, great view,” said LMN's Kato. The massive 30,000 pound windows lasted a week to drive to Seattle to Seattle from Grand Junction, Colorado and was positioned.
The building also has large windows in back shops in which the care of animals and habitats occurs, another atypical view of aquariums. Together, the openings in the ocean pavilion help the Seattle aquarium to connect visitors to marine ecosystems inside and outside of its walls. “We imagined this as an aquarium of the future,” said LMN partner Mark Reddington. “It is a place where we humans can include in a deeper understanding of the ocean and our connection.”
Lauren Gallow is a design author and educator who lives in Seattle.