Dive into the Design Behind Seattle Aquarium’s New Ocean Pavilion

The Seattle Aquarium recently opened its long-awaited extension, the Ocean Pavilion, with fanfare that included Mayor Bruce Harrell, Gov. Jay Inslee, a ribbon-cutting, and hundreds of excited onlookers waiting to be among the first to experience the city’s newest waterfront attraction. Designed by local firm LMN Architects with exhibition design by New York-based Thinc Design (projects include the Empire State Building Observatory and the National September 11 Memorial Museum), the addition has been in motion for more than a decade. 

Designed by LMN Architects, the recently opened Ocean Pavilion is the newest component of the Seattle Aquarium.

Photo courtesy of Seattle Aquarium

“When we started the project, the viaduct was still there,” says architect Osama Quotah, a partner at LMN. “We were imagining a project that would happen in a condition that didn’t exist at the time.” As part of the larger waterfront overhaul, the pavilion needed to fit into the existing fabric of downtown Seattle’s western border, which includes the ferry terminal, Pike Place Market, the Great Wheel, and public piers full of shops and restaurants. LMN worked closely with architect James Corner’s firm, Field Operations, to plan how the Ocean Pavilion would best blend with the waterfront’s planned redesign, a project that Corner’s studio, best known for its design of New York’s High Line park, helped plan.  

“The extraordinary thing about this site is that one edge of it is the Salish Sea, and the other is the urban center of Seattle,” says Mark Reddington, a partner at LMN. The new 50,000-square-foot Ocean Pavilion, with its sweeping yellow Alaskan cedar-clad façade and nearly half-million gallon Reef ecosystem, houses 3,500 sustainably sourced tropical fish, invertebrates, and plants, representing more than 150 species. With a public garden and viewing platform on the roof, and the new Salish Steps installation, the facility is firmly rooted into the neighborhood and full of public-inclusive elements. (A large oculus at the entrance allows passersby a glimpse into the Reef, sans ticket purchase). “The big, sweeping form going over the Salish Steps with an open view straight out to the water,” Reddington says. “Its form captures the relationship between what’s happening inside the pavilion, and how it connects with the history and culture of Seattle, and a larger global story.”

In addition to scientists, aquariums, and design firms from around the country, LMN worked with local indigenous tribes — and hired indigenous artists — on various elements of the project. Glass artist Dan Friday, a member of the Lummi Tribe, created an installation featuring hand-blown glass fish in the entrance hall, and the landscape on the roof was planted in consultation with  Valerie Segrest (Muckleshoot), co-founder and principal at Tahoma Peak Solutions and includes sandblasted images along the walkway by Owen Oliver (Quinault/Isleta Pueblo) of Headwater People Consulting. 

“You can see out working waterfront all the way down to Mount Rainier,” Quotah says. “Part of what we’re doing with this project is helping people see how the things we do here in the Puget Sound region affect the ocean.”

This idea of connectivity is at the heart Seattle Aquarium’s mission, which is why the new addition focuses on the Coral Triangle — a region north of Australia, between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. “There are over 500 species of coral in those waters,” says Dr. Erin Meyer, the Aquarium’s chief conservation officer. “We talk about it like the Amazon — it’s one of the most biodiverse parts of the ocean, and what happens there has far-reaching impacts. The reason why it’s important for us to expand our platform to talk about this ecosystem and share stories from across the Pacific is because we’re part of one world ocean, meaning  that oceans don’t just stop — people are connected around the globe through them.”

The Reef exhibit provides a dynamic immersion in the diversity of life that characterizes the Indo-Pacific region called the Coral Triangle.

Photo courtesy of THINC Design

In addition to the Reef — where animals including three Eagle rays (two of which are a father-son duo from Tacoma’s Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium) and an Indo-Pacific leopard shark have been acclimating to their new home — the Ocean Pavilion includes One Ocean Hall, an atrium that plays 360-degree digital stories and interactive displays to educate visitors about oceans around the world, the Archipelago, a live-mangrove forest housing small rays and schooling fish, and an At Home in the Ocean exhibition that provides an up-close look at the habitats of clownfish, seahorse, scorpionfish, and other wildlife. 

One Ocean Hall brings living exhibits and immersive interactive media together to demonstrate the many ways people are connected to the world’s ocean.

Photo courtesy of THINC Design

The Ocean Stories exhibit teaches visitors about cultural stewardship of the ocean and how its resources complement the living exhibits of the Ocean Pavilion.

Photo courtesy of THINC Design

“From the very first meeting, we examined the question of what we need to do in this primary habitat (the Reef) to support the health of the animals,” says Reddington, noting that to build the structure, workers had to do a 24-hour, continuous concrete pour to ensure no cracks. Factors ranging from individual hideaway preferences to the swimming height and radii of each species was considered.

“We shape the exhibits for animal welfare, using specific parameters established by the aquarium and general standards for different animals,” adds Tom Hennes, principal and founder of Thinc design. “This determines, for instance, the shapes of the swim areas to ensure that the largest of the animals in the exhibit have adequate space to swim and turn, as well as ensuring that animals that land on sandy flats have adequate glide distances and places to rest. For smaller animals, we create ledges, overhangs, and other naturalistic features that give them the kinds of environment they inhabit in the wild that also give them protection from predators.”

The result is a striking environment flush with color and movement. “If you go out into the ocean, that ecosystem is billions of years in the making,” says Dr. Meyer, “so making and creating the system here took a lot of time and patience.” 

“In a sense this whole collection of animals is our client and we’re designing their house,” says Reddington. “To go there and see them in person once they go into their environment is an emotional moment connecting with what we’ve been building for years.”