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.
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.
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.
See Also: Seoul’s Robot Science Museum will be built by robots
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.
Click for larger image.
Click for larger image.
Related Stories
| Aug 25, 2014
Tall wood buildings: Surveying the early innovators
Timber has been largely abandoned as a structural solution in taller buildings during the last century, in favor of concrete and steel. Perkins+Will's Rebecca Holt writes about the firm's work in surveying the burgeoning tall wood buildings sector.
| Aug 21, 2014
Ranked: Top science and technology sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
HDR, Affiliated Engineers, and Skanska top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest S+T sector design and construction firms.
Sponsored | | Aug 16, 2014
Fire-rated framing system makes the grade at Johnson & Wales University Center
The precision engineering of TGP’s Fireframes Aluminum Series creates narrow profiles and crisp sightlines at Johnson & Wales University Center for Physician Assistant Studies
| Aug 16, 2014
The science of learning: Designing the STEM learning facilities of the future
New technology and changing pedagogies are influencing how to best teach a generation of learners who have never known a world without smartphones or tablets, writes HOK's Kimberly Robidoux.
| Aug 14, 2014
8 do's and don'ts for completing an HVAC life cycle cost assessment
There are many hurdles to overcome when completing a life cycle cost assessment. RMF Engineering’s Seth Spangler offers some words of advice regarding LCCAs.
| Aug 14, 2014
Life cycle cost analysis using energy modeling
A life cycle cost analysis helps a school district decide which HVAC system to use in $198 million worth of future building projects.
| Aug 13, 2014
Campus UX: Why universities should be creating 'branded environments' on campus
When most colleges and universities consider their brands, they rarely venture beyond the design and implementation of a logo, writes Gensler Design Director Brian Brindisi.
| Aug 12, 2014
Vietnam's 'dragonfly in the sky' will be covered in trees, vegetation
Designed by Vietnamese design firm Vo Trong Nghia Architects, the building will be made up of stacked concrete blocks placed slightly askew to create a soft, organic form that the architects say is reminiscent of a dragonfly in the sky.
| Aug 12, 2014
First look: Calatrava's futuristic Main Building opens at Florida Polytechnic University
The $60 million structure is wrapped in a bright-white, aluminum pergola for dramatic effect and solar shading.
| Aug 6, 2014
BIG reinvents the zoo with its 'Zootopia' natural habitat concept [slideshow]
Bjarke Ingels’ firm is looking to improve the 1960s-designed Givskund Zoo in Denmark by giving the animals a freer range to roam.
