Page 6 - PDZA Sustainable Aquarium Brochure

A COLLABORATIVE PROCESS

From the beginning, we set clear and ambitious to understand the spatial requirements and ideal
goals of creating a sustainable aquarium with configurations of these systems so that the building
a reduced carbon footprint, minimal potable form could accommodate them in their most
water use and improved energy efficiencies. efficient configuration. This resulted in a building
Concerns about cost, operations and risks were with more equipment above the tanks than
ever present. As architects and engineers, part of normal, which in this case minimized the amount of
our responsibility is to educate clients on every required excavation.
conceivable innovation that can help them reach
their goals which, in this case, was an aquarium We have learned many important things over
that expressed the client’s mission to protect decades innovating with sustainable technologies.
our oceans and the environment. Early on, we One of the most important is that any building
helped the client rank priorities in terms of cost, sustainability strategy is only effective if it is
operation, maintenance, performance, etc. effectively operated. The complexity of the system
has to match the sophistication of the operators. In
Our collaboration resulted in a cutting edge the case of a school, for example, ease of operation
facility that breaks with tradition in several ways is key. Busy teachers can’t be expected to run
and reveals a path forward for future projects. In complex systems. Luckily, an aquarium is complex by
a typical aquarium, the life support system and nature and comes with a sophisticated facilities and
the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems operation group. At the New Pacific Seas Aquarium,
are all designed by separate engineers. Each we arrived at the final systems configurations
engineer designs their system to be as efficient through a series of early workshops, life cycle
as possible. Yet there are redundancies and analysis, operating requirement analysis and visits
missed opportunities in the gaps and overlaps of and conversations involving architects, engineers,
separately-designed systems. designers, other institutions and suppliers. These
discussions all included representatives from the
By bringing all the engineers together early— building’s operations and facilities team. Having
around a shared sustainability goal—we identified everyone on board from the beginning helped
new opportunities for efficiency. In addition, by everyone to feel confident in the solution.
setting these goals early enough, we were able

6 AQUARIUM OF THE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE: PUBLIC FACILITIES DESIGNED TO EMBODY CONSERVATION