Aquatic Wonderland

by Jonathan McGaha | March 31, 2016 12:00 am

Color-changing panels help aquarium establish new identity

Located in Stanley Park[1] in Vancouver, the Vancouver Aquarium[2] is Canada’s largest marine science center and its first public aquarium. In June 2014, the aquarium unveiled a $45 million renovation and expansion, its most significant expansion in its 58-year history.

The museum opened in 1956 as a 9,000-square-foot facility in the 1,000-acre Stanley Park, which borders downtown Vancouver and is surrounded on three sides by the Pacific Ocean. Since then, Canada’s first public aquarium has grown “piece-by-piece,” according to Mark Thompson, Architect AIBC, MRAIC, ANZIA, LEED AP BD+C, partner at Vancouver-based Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership[3] (MCMP), to occupy more than 100,000 square feet.

Thompson notes that the Vancouver Aquarium is a much-loved institution treasured by many. “This latest project gave us the opportunity to take an incongruous set of expansions and renovations and create a more unified image,” he says. “We wanted to give the aquarium an identity and presence within Stanley Park that would increase its value to the city.”

 

Curvilinear Design

The new, two-story, 55,000-square-foot building is designed to evoke the flow of water and the wonder of aquatic life. The new building provides a signature-element entrance, ticketing/admissions area, café/coffee bar, gift shop, children’s area and courtyard. The building houses a new upper-level connecting hub and gallery featuring a 360-degree overhead digital projection of the aquatic world and a 14-foot globe. The lower level features a public program presentation area with amphitheater-style seating and a changing exhibits gallery.

To establish a new identity and presence for the aquarium, a curvilinear architectural design element clad in Alucobond Spectra Sakura color-changing aluminum composite material[4] (ACM) from 3A Composites USA Inc.[5], Davidson, N.C., is incorporated into the building design. Depending on the viewing angle, the Alucobond Spectra Sakura colors change colors as different wavelengths of light are reflected back to the viewer. In this case, the ACM mimics fish scales in hues ranging from green to pink.

The building’s large curved walls are evocative of animal life and water, or as Thompson says, “a curved, organic form.” Additionally, he says the curvilinear design fits well with the park’s large trees and pools of water, along with the aquarium’s outdoor exhibits that wind in and out of fixed natural areas. And, according to Thompson, the choice of exterior wall material took its cue from nature. He says the design team wanted to mimic fish scales and started with a review of colored materials that could achieve this desired effect.

“The material also had to be durable,” adds Thompson. “In a salt-water environment, the building’s cladding had to be corrosive-resistant. Additionally, we needed a low-maintenance material because this is a major public building.”

 

Color-Changing Panels

Thompson says the design team looked at the Spectra Sakura finish to create the fish-scale coloration. “The green-to-pink combination fit in Stanley Park because it was subtle,” he explains. “As you move around the building, you see a change in coloration. And, as the sun moves across the building, it changes color as well. The curve looked good with the Sakura; it really produced the desired effect.”

For the project, 3A Composites supplied 12,000 square feet of its 4-mm Alucobond ACM in Spectra Sakura color finish installed in an advanced pressure-equalized wall system. Keith Panel Systems Co. Ltd.[6] (KPS), Vancouver, fabricated and installed the Alucobond Spectra Sakura panels in a staggered panel joint layout to heighten the fish-scale effect. “The fish-scale look produced with the Spectra Sakura is definitely a feature of these walls,” says Thompson. “We were looking for an architectural element that was uniquely evocative of the aquarium’s mission.”

KPS began working with MCMP in 2011 in a design-assist capacity, and introduced all of the Alucobond Spectra Color options to the firm. KPS built two large building mock-ups on castor wheels for convenient indoor/outdoor viewing of the color-changing panels during presentations to aquarium officials before the Spectra Sakura color was selected.

Carlo Gatti, business development manager at KPS, says Spectra Sakura was chosen because it provided the marine life aesthetic that the architect desired to achieve. And, the underwater effect was enhanced with horizontal LED light strips placed in a random pattern within the reveals of the KPS wall panel system.

For the project, KPS fabricated 580 Spectra Sakura panels in five pre-determined typical sizes. To ensure proper fit at all detail interfaces, all unique panels were field measured. Panel fabrication began in November 2013 and installation was completed in June 2014.

The Spectra Sakura ACM was installed in KPS System “A,” a dry-joint compartmentalized and pressure-equalized rainscreen system, primarily on the building’s eastern and western elevations, which flank the main entrance. Additionally, 3,600 square feet of 4-mm Alucobond in custom River Zinc Metallic was installed at the canopy fascia and within the circular skylight wells.

Gatti says the reaction to the project from the architectural community has been very positive regarding the unique behavior of the Spectra Sakura, which is accentuated by the gentle curvature of the walls.

“The new Alucobond panels have provided a fresh, contemporary look for Vancouver Aquarium,” says Gord Copland, director of building operations at Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre. “The innovative panels are part of a rainscreen system will protect the building for decades to come and are part of our commitment to environmental sustainability.”

“We worked with the architect and the aid of computer-aided design (CAD) software to ensure that the building curve design was gentle enough so that the panels could be manufactured flat and ‘walked-on’ to the curve,” according to Gatti, who says this design approach produced a cost savings for the client.

Thompson, who is currently working on the next expansion and renovation phase for the marine science center, says the curved walls and Spectra Sakura ACM will be utilized as a unifying architectural design element.

 

Sustainability

The new building is part of the aquarium’s Phase 1 renovation and expansion, which also included extensive infrastructure updates designed to enhance the aquarium’s long-standing commitment to sustainability. The renovation and expansion are targeted to meet or exceed LEED Canada Green Building Design and Construction Silver rating requirements.

Sustainable features include landscaping that optimizes stormwater management, while protecting and restoring open spaces; environmental strategies that limit or eliminate erosion and sedimentation to protect local ecosystems, including temporary mulching, earth dykes, silt fencing, and sediment traps and basins; and water-efficient landscaping, use of harvested rainwater for irrigation and grey toilet-flushing systems. The construction team was able to divert 75 percent of the construction waste from landfills, while salvaged and recycled materials were sourced and incorporated into the project wherever possible. Additionally, boulders, rocks, wood and topsoil were stockpiled for future use.

The building design aims to eliminate light bleeding from the building and site to improve night sky views. Inside, features include high-performance plumbing fixtures, such as low-flow or dual-flow toilets, waterless urinals, and low-flow showerheads and faucets. The project features a new facility-wide and energy-efficient heat exchange system, called a district energy system, that heats and cools the building and animal exhibits in the most energy-efficient way possible. The site-wide energy loop consists of 12-inch insulated PVC pipes that redistribute energy throughout the building, facilitating local heating or cooling as needed.

“The Vancouver Aquarium now has a place in the city where it previously had been almost buried in the park,” says Thompson. “We are very happy with this project.”

**Top two photos: Photos courtesy of Keith Panel Systems Co. Ltd., Bottom photo: Ema Peter

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Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/articles/aquatic-wonderland/

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