Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/331457
Vancouver Aquarium Expansion and Revitalization by Robin Brunet S ince opening in June of 1956, the Vancouver Aquarium has en- joyed many distinctions. It was Canada's first public aquarium and has since become the largest in the country (with 9.5 million litres of water in 166 aquatic displays) as well as one of the five largest in North America. But the aging process is especially tough on aquariums given the salt water and other components. John Night ingale, Vancouver Aquarium president and CEO, compares his facil- ity to a human in dire need of medical attention: "Parts of the Aquarium need the equivalent of two knees, a hip and a quintuple bypass." An initial master plan was conceived in 2000 and resulted in a new research wing as well as the Aquaquest: Marilyn Blusson Learning Centre, in 2005 and 2006 respectively. In 2007, the Aquar- ium retained Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership architects to create another master plan that would have five phases: the first being a comprehensive electri- cal upgrade, followed by a new entrance complex; a new Canada's Arctic display (including a new or larger beluga whale pool); an expanded BC Wild Coast dis- play; and service facilities. And the total cost: $100-million, with the first focus being to unveil the entrance complex by June of this year. Musson Cat tel l pa r t ner Ma rk Thompson says, "Our operating philoso- phy was that the architecture would be strictly a backdrop to the exhibits." To which Nightingale adds, "We retained Musson because we liked the clean sim- plicity of its lines, forms and finishes, and in designing the new entrance complex the company hit the ball right out of the park. "Unfortunately, the design increased our budget to $125-million, and we were advised by two levels of senior government that we needed to cut it a bit. This obliged us to rearrange some components, but Musson's vision for the facility remained basically intact." Essentially, the design called for the demolition of a 2,500-square-foot gift shop and 2,500-square-foot stock room; the revamped facility would be 55,000 square feet in size and expand from one to three storeys. Turnbull Construction Services Ltd. was retained in late 2010 and tasked with providing project management services through all phases, includ- ing program confirmation, schematic and detailed design, permitting and approvals, procurement, and construc- tion phase monitoring. Also, because life support is a crucial component for any aquarium, MWH Global of San Diego, a wet infrastructure engineering firm, was brought in. Thompson says of the new entrance complex's layout, "We designed two of the levels to be below ground due to strict height restrictions in Stanley Park." The lowest level would contain system mechanics, and the second level would be a public area connected to the whale pools. "On ground level, the original building had an understated ent ranceway t hat caused conges- tion problems, so we created a grand entrance with more ticket points and shelter for visitors," adds Thompson. One notable design element in the building extension was the use of curved walls. "The curves were appro- priate for the aquatic nature of the facility, plus they functioned to hide ele- ments such as back-of-house areas from public view," says Thompson. "In future phases of the Aquarium upgrade, you'll see many more curved walls throughout the property." Construction commenced in Octo- ber of 2012 with the replacement of the Aquarium's emergency power gen- eration system; this involved extensive upgrading to the existing main elec- trical service. Careful planning was required to minimize downtime during change-out; the new generators came on line in June 2013. The main construction challenge regarding the new entrance complex involved people – namely, visitors. "Our Aquarium is open 365 days a year and welcomes as many as one million visi- tors annually," says Nightingale. "It's a very tight site, and the builders had to co-ordinate with our manager of facili- ties in order to ensure little or no impact to guests or our 50,000 animals." Stephen Brownsett, project man- ager for PCL Constructors Westcoast, all images courtesy the vancouver aquarium june 2014 /61 Vancouver Aquarium expansion and Revitalization p.60-63VanAqua.indd 61 14-06-03 9:54 AM